ReXsH: The Tale of Two Towns
by berserker-lonewolf
Summary: Evil Returns! The lines of reality are crossed when the enigmatic silhouette of a once dead city reappears from out of the mist. Sirens summon the survivors of Raccoon City for unfinished business as well as the veterans who survived another tourist town. UPDATE: Chapter 13 is now up. Thanks for being patient!
1. Prologue: Intro to Survival Horror

_**Author's Disclaimer:**__** All referenced characters, monsters, and locations are copyrighted properties of both Capcom and Konami and this is a respectfully passionate fan work of both their franchises. WARNING: This game story contains scenes of explicit violence, gore and disturbing verbal imagery which may be considered cruel. Parental discretion is advised.**_

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><p><strong>~<span>Introduction to the Worlds of Survival Horror<span>~**

_In the year 1998, a bizarre incident occurred in the outskirts of a Midwestern suburb called Raccoon City. Outlandish murder cases were reported of families being attacked and eaten by a virtual army of unidentified assassins. The Raccoon City Police Department dispatched the Special Forces unit called S.T.A.R.S. into the heart of the Arklay Mountains where they felt was the hive of the activity. What they found were scenes of ghoulish slaughter in which they could never have expected from any madness of a motion picture. After 3 days of being lost without radio contact, only 5 of the 12 surviving members of the S.T.A.R.S. teams sent in to investigate report engaging in combat with a legion of mutated monsters as well as the undead residents of both the Umbrella Management Training Facility and the Arklay Research Facility. It is also reported by the survivors that the Umbrella Corporation was behind the outbreak, the T-Virus, that claimed so many of their comrades lives. Their claims went unbelieved and eventually ignored, due to the influence the Umbrella Corporation already had over the RPD._

_After 2 months had passed since the Arklay Mountains incident, another outbreak, the G-Virus, resulted in monsters taking over what remained of Raccoon City. For over a week, the undead walked the streets. The world for the first time finally bared witness to what they felt religious groups had called, the Apocalypse. On September 30th, the President of the United States of America held a press conference for the media to declare Raccoon City a "lost cause" and that after much heated discussion among himself and members of Congress, it was finally decided that the city must be sterilized for fear of the viral threat escaping. On the dawn of October 1st, "Mission Code: XX" was ordered and a nuclear cruise missile was launched at the city of the dead. Nothing in the city survived. Nothing in it remained._

_After the destruction of Raccoon City, the President resigned due to public backlash over the contingency decision. Umbrella, however, continued their biological experiments despite heavy investigation from the newly informed media. When the ruins of the city were gated away from the world to see, Umbrella built one more research and testing facility on those hollowed grounds. The U.S. Government would perform random inspections of the facilities to ensure their activities were solely just for experimental tests for small traces of active T-Virus within the area._

_Finally in 2003, the U.S. Government issued an indefinite suspension of business decree to the Umbrella Corporation. Once stock prices crashed, the Umbrella Corporation finally collapsed. The U.S. Government then took over the Ground Zero facility and focused on the activities within the compound Umbrella once did. The area was deemed highly classified, and military guard watched for any trespassers or future biohazard threats._

_On October 1st, 2010, the U.S. Government had lost contact with the Ground Zero facility and sent agents to investigate into it. What they found was what appeared to be an infinitely deep massive crater where the ruins and the facility once were. This phenomenon was unexplainable as there were no reports from neighboring townships of any sounds of explosion or any biohazardous readings being detected by radiation equipment. The investigation was never resolved as there were no leads to what happened to the facility grounds and all of its staff. That was until October 1st, 2011... 36 hours ago._

_Highway troopers from a neighboring police precinct reported their involvement in a high speed back-road chase involving four teenagers driving a 1979 Dodge Ram van in the woods of the Arklay Mountains. After several minutes of losing track on the assailants, they finally found the van abandoned by a trail that was known to lead to where the test facility used to be. Police radioed in for backup and searched for the suspects. The officers claimed to have heard what sounded like an Emergency Alert System wailing in the air. After following the source of the sound, the police found the four teenagers on the edge of where the facility grounds once were. The officers, who were questioned and cross-examined for 10 hours after they submitted their paperwork on the incident, swear that upon finding the four teenagers, they also found that the source of the sirens came from what looked like an untouched Raccoon City shrouded in thick fog. They told our agents, "…It looked almost as if it never went away."_

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><p><em><strong><span>Author's Note<span>:**__** As you've read and noticed, I thought the best way to start off a fanfic involving Resident Evil was to begin the first prologue chapter with the classic "Umbrella Corp Recap" introduction that is used in almost all the RE games while weaving into it the plot of this "new nightmare." Stay tuned to find out who was on the receiving end of this "Top Secret" briefing… **_


	2. Chapter 1: A Brief Session

_**Author's Disclaimer: All referenced characters, monsters, and locations are copyrighted properties of both Capcom and Konami and this is a respectfully passionate fan work of both their franchises. WARNING: This game story contains scenes of explicit violence, gore and disturbing verbal imagery which may be considered cruel. Parental discretion is advised.**_

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><p><strong>~<span>Chapter 01: A Brief Session<span>~**

Leon Scott Kennedy stared at the slides of the city at various angles being flashed and reflashed on the projector for close to two minutes. To him, it might as well been an eternity. He remembered how years ago people expressed their outrage; condemning the decision to destroy Raccoon City. As for himself, he almost felt deeply grateful that it had been wiped from existence. He never wanted to see that place again for as long as he lived. Even being called to one of the Pentagon's briefing rooms at 3:24 p.m. for what he was told by Ingrid Hunnigan only as "an extremely Top Secret emergency briefing" could not prepare him for what Colonel Shannon Michaels had officially told him. And then showed him as proof.

"That's… not possible." was all Leon could mutter again and again in utter disbelief.

"I agree." responded Col. Michaels. He was a thick man in his mid-fifties with a dark goatee and his graying dark brown hair slicked back under his beret. He was dressed in a blue formal military uniform and decorated with various medals. "But now that we have photographic evidence that Raccoon City has not been destroyed, we can disregard any possibility of mass hallucination caused from any biohazardous outbreak encountered by the eye witnesses. But we're still no where near any answers as to why it's there."

Leon returned back to his senses, slightly. "How do you possibly hope to suppress any information of this from the news media?"

Col. Michaels took in a deep breath. "Thankfully the officers returned straight to their town's precinct without notifying any known radio stations or news channels. Federal agents have already informed everyone at the precinct right down to the teenagers arrested that our military scientists had set up a new facility that where testing hallucinogenic experiments and the sirens they heard was an alarm system alerting all staff of a small outbreak that escaped the facility."

"Did they really believe that? That all of them just hallucinated the same thing?"

Col. Michaels nervously chuckled, then Hunnigan, who was also in the room, responded to Leon's question. "It's possible, though rare, that groups of people with shared experiences can dream up the same thing. We were lucky that all witnesses involved were all survivors from the Raccoon City viral outbreak back in '98, or else that lie probably wouldn't have worked. But again, we have these shots of what looks as, for the lack of a better phrase, a dead city. From what we see there are no visible signs of life or any visible damage from violence or from nuclear fire within it. The city looks as though it was always untouched. But all military personal now stationed around the outskirts of the city report seeing lights coming from some of the buildings within the city that night. It's only a matter of time before civilians and the press notice it one clear night out."

"Not to rain on your parade, Hunnigan," Leon began, "but I'm almost certain they are going to notice _that_ in a day or two."

"That's absolutely right." agreed Col. Michaels. "That's why we need to get to the bottom of this incident immediately before we lose more people trying to figure it out."

Leon's eyebrows creased in surprise. "…'Lose _more_ people?'"

Col. Michaels took in another deep sigh. "We wasted no time sending in four BSAA agents and two military scientists to study the city and bring back any samples of value. We immediately lost contact with them the second they drove into the compound; both radio and visual. After an hour and a half of radio silence, only one of the agents returned. He was severely wounded, covered in scratches, bite marks, and was missing his left arm up to the elbow. He was treated at the medical tent, afterwards we tried to get as much information as we could about what happened inside the city while he was still couscous."

The old colonel walked around the table where the projector sat over to where Leon was sitting. He leaned over and gazed at the federal agent. "He told us the city literally turned from day to night in a matter of seconds. Said he watched the walls disappear all around them, then they went to Hell where he watched his teammates get butchered and eaten by, and I quote, _'demons.'_"

Leon did regain some of his dry humor. "_Demons_, huh? Sounds like B.O.W.s to me. I guess that proves there is an outbreak. Right down to that part about hallucinating that the walls disappeared."

Col. Michaels raised back and continued to walk to the front of the room towards the slides. "We tried unsuccessfully to get clearer answers from him, but he continued to sob uncontrollably; screaming that the Bogeyman was going to get him. He then placed his standard issue Beretta 92F into his mouth and pulled the trigger."

"How terrible…" Hunnigan whispered, biting her bottom lip.

"This BSAA agent was named Broderick Rosa." said Col. Michaels. "He was the Marksman of BSAA's Theta Team that we sent in. He comes from a long line of decorated soldiers in his family, graduated from Raccoon University in 1994 top of his class, did some missions in Bosnia, not to mention, aiding in the U.S. Military involvement of guarding the parameter around Raccoon City during the original outbreak where it was recorded he single-handedly dispatched 36 approaching B.O.W.s using various firearms and hand-to-hand combat as they tried to break the barricades. When the Bioterrorism Security Assessment Alliance was formed and seeking applicants, Agent Rosa was among the first recruited and passed the psychological analysis test with a 100% with no signs of PTSD. This man was an excellent soldier, yet despite his prime mental state and field experience, he was driven to madness in a little over an hour."

Leon rested his chin on his knuckle; his elbow propped onto the desk. "I see. This sounds a lot worse than a viral outbreak. I'd almost bet money this would be another one if it wasn't-_I still can't believe this_-if it wasn't for Raccoon City reappearing out of thin air!"

Col. Michaels nodded in agreement. "I've been a soldier all my life, son. I've seen everything from battles in the jungles of Asia, to my tours in the African desert. And after Raccoon City, when I thought I'd seen it all with zombies rising out of the grave eating each other, reality takes a shit in my goddamn Corn Flakes and I wake up eating _this _for breakfast!" He finished his sentence motioning his thumb towards the projection of the city.

Hunnigan stood up from her chair and rested her palms on the table. Leon glanced over to her, despite the extremely serious nature of the topic, to admire his US Secret Service Contact's figure under what he felt sure was painfully restrictive pin-stripped formal attire that she always wore at work. He always wondered how she could stand it without ripping it off of her form to free herself from its confinement, so she could show the world the body he knew she had underneath. She was a dark-skinned Caucasian in her early 30's with hazel eyes that hid behind black-rimmed eye glasses. Her dark brunette hair was always pulled tightly back in a ponytail, which now annoyed Leon because at one point he finally got to see her mesmerizing curly locks free and fallen around her shoulders one day at work. The voice emitting from her pink full lips covered in gloss made him focus back on the topic at hand.

"Colonel," she spoke, in absolute faith of what she was about to suggest, "maybe now would be a good idea to finally fall back into last years records on the crater incident to find some clue as to a connection between these two events. As you remember, the Ground Zero facility before it disappeared had discovered top secret documents in a secret compartment pertaining to something called, the 'Dirac Project.'"

"Yes," replied Col. Michaels. "but as you remember, Hunnigan, those documents only referenced the Dirac Project in name alone. They're just memos, letters, and time sheets as to when the experiments was carried out. However, nothing we found there gives any explanation, let alone the results, of what this project was?"

"There have been theories, Colonel." Hunnigan said.

"The ones that were suggesting that the Dirac Project was a paranormal experiment to try and peak into other dimensions? Even if the words "Hell' and 'demons' came from a survivor's foaming mouth, why should we entertain such a notion just yet when we're only a day-and-a-half into this bullshit? I'll admit, this whole situation is testing my Christian spirit, but I'm Marine in mentality first. We need at least another team in before we start asking ghost hunters to ride their Mystery Machines into Raccoon City to find some Blair Witch."

"Maybe this would be the best research to entertain before you send another team in to be slaughtered like pigs." Hunnigan responded calmly with a hint of firmness. "You said it yourself that Agent Rosa was fully competent and a skilled firearms expert who had seen the worst in combat over the years, but he killed himself after he told our federal agents that he barely escaped with his life after being sucked into some nightmare that warped the surroundings they were in. Besides, I would like to know what kind of mission I'm going to have to support Leon into while the brass figure out when it's time to stop twiddling their thumbs in their asses and start considering the cosmic scale that all of this is starting to fall into."

Col. Michaels finally sat in his chair, sinking in everything he heard and knew. Deep down, he knew that looking back to the past was the most logical decision. He considered very much the supernatural element that this possibly presented. Then he retorted, "But Hunnigan, if the public ever found out about us consulting so-called 'paranormal investigators,' no matter how bizarre a ghost city appearing out of thin air is, the United States Government would be a laughing stock to every country in the free world."

Leon finally entered the conversation in Hunnigan's defense, even though he was technically the more skeptical of the two in the subject of the paranormal. "Hunnigan is right. She's already assisted me in two separate missions. It's obvious that you have both of us here to assist with the next BSAA team you send into the city. I admit this all sounds like cockamamie nonsense, but if it will ensure the success of the next mission, let me and Hunnigan track down some _real_ experts in the field. I'm talking maybe scholars with some credibility."

The Colonel lifted his hand to speak, but Leon quickly cut him off. "Give us time, Colonel. Give us time and you have my word I'll find something that will bear you fruit."

Col. Michaels gaze shifted to the table, his fingers crossed amongst his hands. Then he lifted his eyes back to Leon. Leon then asked him, "How many days could you spare us?"

After a moment the Colonel replied, "Two days at most. The third day, we'll be sending you in with another BSAA Team. Both of you begin your search as of now. You're dismissed."

Hunnigan was the first of the two to exit the door out of the briefing office. Leon followed, but not before being stopped by the Colonel. "Leon?"

Leon turned to face the man still sitting in his chair, who's gaze had returned back to the table. Col. Michaels said one more thing. "I have to apologize to you. I had no desire to ask you to do this. No man should have to go back to that hellhole. You were lucky you survived there the first time. I hope you do find some expert that knows what the hell is going on there. I've spoken with your superiors and I recognize your value to the Secret Service. That is why I will see what I can do as far as maybe talking to the President about giving that woman a full pardon as well as maybe talking to your superiors about getting her on as a federal agent in return for her cooperation on the next mission. We don't throw favors of that magnitude around here lightly. By the way I see it, you're going to need all the help you can get on this one. Because when you go back there, I don't think you'll be fighting the same battle you did last time."

After Col. Michaels words sunk in, Leon silently saluted him. The Colonel returned the salute and Leon left the room. As the door closed behind him, Col. Michaels raised out from the comfort of his chair and walked to the projector's screen where the digital images of Raccoon City were still in view. He looked closely at the city. It looked so new yet so ancient. After minutes of picking the image apart in his head, he felt almost certain that the city in the picture was staring back at him.

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><p><em><strong><span>Author's Note<span>: There you have it. Leon has been asked to do, perhaps, his most dangerous mission yet. But despite being the central character the story will focus on, Leon won't fight this battle alone. Evil towns have a way of "summoning" people to show them their true selves and as well as the true purposes in life. Leon may be cool and collected on the outside, but I have a good feeling Leon and company are going to have confront themselves and maybe each other in what's going to be a "very personal and familiar" conflict. Stay tuned for more…!**_


	3. Chapter 2: The Long Drive Back Home

_**Author's Disclaimer**__**:**__** All referenced characters, monsters, and locations are copyrighted properties of both Capcom and Konami and this is a respectfully passionate fan work of both their franchises. WARNING: This game story contains scenes of explicit violence, gore and disturbing verbal imagery which may be considered cruel. Parental discretion is advised.**_

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><p><strong>~<span>Chapter 02: The Long Drive Hom<span>e~**

It was October 2nd, 3:36 pm that Sunday evening when Leon and Hunnigan exited one of the Pentagon's many briefing offices in which Col. Michaels had called them both in to ask Leon to participate in the second mission into Raccoon City. Leon Kennedy had worked for the United States Government as an agent for 13 years in both the Secret Service. He had fought in many encounters which involved on some degree biological terror. It almost always involved Umbrella. He was pretty certain that this was going to be another dance he would have to do against them. As they continued to walk down the busy corridor, Hunnigan, whom he noticed was taken by surprise at his suggestion to assist him in hunting down experts, demanded an explanation.

"Leon," she began, "why did you suggest that I assist you personally in a field investigation when you know I am strictly in communications?"

"I suggested because you made those same claims of paranormal science last year on the Deep Hole Incident. I remember you being very passionate about your research on the Dirac Project and your theories regarding the disappearances of both the Ground Zero facility along with the rest of the landscape that Raccoon City once rested on."

"And you remember Assistant Chief Nielsen telling me to _'lay off the Stephen King novels, Agent Scully.'_"

"You've got to admit, the 'Agent Scully' part was kind of funny." Leon, though barely, mused.

"I don't really find the questioning of my competence funny, so that was why I stopped suggesting it. But Leon, what do you expect from me this time now that a ghost city comes back from being nuked into nothing? Especially that unexplainable hole in it's place the year before? No seismological instruments detected any earthquake, despite the other theory of the nuclear blast from the launched missile helped rupture a possible underground canyon. I mean, no devices have yet been able to even measure how _deep_ that hole even was. Doesn't that scare you even the least?"

"That? Not too much. That could have at least been explainable."

"What about Raccoon City?"

Leon stopped walking, then Hunnigan. "…Yes. This does scare me. I have lived my whole life on facts, Hunnigan. The world saw zombies for the first time on the news back then. They thought they saw the living dead rising from Hell. What I saw, Hunnigan, was a virus… and how devastating the results of using something like that in biological terrorism could be if it happened again. I've fought mutated experiments, these monsters that the general public would take one look at and scream it were a demon. I've seen it again and again and I always had an explanation for it."

Leon looked back up the corridor at the door they just left. "But this… this is different." Then he turned back to Hunnigan. "I have no explanation for Raccoon City returning from nothing. But if you feel as though you have a better chance at explaining it than they do, I need you to cooperate in giving me a list of any experts you've consulted in your personal investigation back then, and I want you to personally accompany me to see them."

"But why as a field partner?" Hunnigan asked. "I could easily support you from our contact center and give you all the information you need from there."

"Because I need someone I can trust for this one. I want no more surprises than what I've already stomached today. I stand a better chance at you being my travel partner until it's time for me to suit up for the mission in Raccoon City." Leon then gave Hunnigan his trademark smirk. "Besides, I need something pretty to look at so I don't get too bored with the hocus-pocus business."

Hunnigan chuckled, then they began walking again. "Yeah, well don't expect hanky-panky business either, Leon. If you really do believe in my credibility, you're going to have to give me your 100% faith in this. Besides, I'm sure we still have to discuss this with the director before I'm to go outside my position."

"Shouldn't be necessary." Leon said. "The Colonel will more than likely report to him on orders from the Secretary of Defense. Any decision made by the director will automatically be overruled because this incident will most likely result in a State of Emergency nationwide when the public finds out about Raccoon's return, anyway."

"Right." she remembered. "I'm going to go through my documents at home to see if I can pull up the names of some people that may be of assistance on your mission. I'll contact you right away if I find anything."

"Good idea, Hunnigan. Contact me on my cell phone when you do. I'm going to make some calls myself to some old comrades to see if they want to be in on the mission. Meanwhile, I suggest we start packing while we're at it."

"Okay, Leon. See you then." said Hunnigan as she walked away; Leon's eyes following after her figure.

"Yeah, later." he said, unenthusiastic. He then walked into a nearby men's restroom. They were large like that of what you would see at airports, but more clean with reflective turquoise tiles and fresh air deodorizers spraying automatically from the walls. Leon walked over to one of the many faucets aligned along the long marble trough that was the sink with multiple drainage holes along it's length and stuck his hands underneath the automatic current of spraying water. He splashed the water in his face and took a long look into the dark green eyes of the now pale man in the mirror. He was wearing his usual attire of dark gray cargo pants with same color short sleeve shirt underneath his trademark brown leather bomber jacket. He never noticed how aged the face under his brown parted, medium-length hair had looked before, despite him being only 34 years of age. Deep down, he was starting to grow tired of fighting monsters around the world. He did not want to go back and fight _there_.

"Can you do this, Leon?" he asked himself out-loud has he placed both hands on the mirror to support himself as he watched the droplets of water fall from his face into the spiraling sink drain. "Can you really go to that town one last time?"

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><p>An hour later, Leon Kennedy was driving his black 2007 Lamborghini Gallardo Nera back to his two-story home in the suburbs of Aurora Hills to begin packing for whatever trip he would need to make. He had already attempted to reach his close friends and fellow comrades in the war against bio-terror as well as survivors of the original outbreak, Chris Redfield and Jill Valentine. Unfortunately they were unable to be reached due to the BSAA already sending them out on another mission to the Republic of Peru prior to the discovery of Raccoon City's return. Leon knew it was doubtful that the BSAA would risk their complicating the mission further by informing them of such a major, and personal, event. But then again, he thought, maybe they were the lucky ones. He tried others, such as Barry Burton, Rebecca Chambers, even Ark Thompson. All of them were unreachable due to being preoccupied with whatever. Leon would have liked very much fighting alongside someone <em>he<em> knew with experience in biohazardous missions, assuming this would be one also.

That left two people he could think of. The first being Chris's sister, Claire Redfield, but he wasn't crazy about asking her to come, though he did feel it was his obligation to call her and tell her what was happening. He knew that she was skilled enough to fight her way through hordes of monsters, but he wondered if whether or not she was still strong enough emotionally? For as long as he knew Claire, she was always a pacifist at heart. Besides, he thought to himself, she works for the non-governmental human rights organization, Terra Save. He envied her in a way. Both of them fight the same fight, at least she gets to do it through peace.

Then there was the _other_ one. The one that Col. Michaels said he was going to negotiate with the Secret Service Director and the President a full pardon in return for joining the mission into Raccoon City. A smile came across his face as he fantasized about seeing her gracefully maneuver through legions of monsters; dispatching them with that same cool never-changing demeanor that matched his. Strangely enough, he actually cherished the memories of his mission in Spain to rescue the president's daughter against Los Illuminados solely because he bore witness to the beauty that was Ada Wong's carnage. Ada Wong was a femme fatale who was a spy and assassin for an as of yet, still unknown organization that competed against Umbrella. He had only seen her a handful of times; each time hotter than the last. All of course were on missions were they would meet by coincidence. The coincidence always involved both Umbrella and the 3rd party organization that Ada answered to. They would always in some order fight each other or fight together in a temporary truce against the enemy. A federal agent and an international spy, he thought to himself smirking. Some nights he would stay awake relishing in the memories of when they were finally trapped together in an underground store room during a heavy battle in Jamaica where they finally unleashed the lust they had for one another and passionately, furiously made love for as long as they safely could. Afterwards, Ada made it very clear to Leon that despite her mutual love for him, the only place they could have each other would be on the battlefield in times of immobility like the one they just shared. Both had professional careers that could not be risked foolishly. Leon understood and they agreed they would honor their respective masters once they escaped.

It wasn't long, however, until the wings of his red robin were clipped by the Secret Service and he was in his heart _forced_ to declare a victory over his lover. It was that same mission in Jamaica three months ago against a politically affiliated gang called the _Yawdie des Barons _who had killed another federal agent who was sent to investigate stories of them acting as weapons dealers and gang recruiters in the United States. When Leon was sent in, it turned out that the Yawdie des Barons were infected by Uroboros they stole in a pirate attack against a ship operated by the organization Ada worked for and caused an outbreak on a small island off Jamaica's southern coast. Their leader and local drug lord of the island, Baron Feelgood, were going to try to market it as a drug to American gangs to increase their ranks and spread the virus. During a battle against the hostile locals who were now infected, he crossed paths with Ada who was there to assassinate Baron Feelgood along with the rest of his members and dealers. Leon remembered it as being one of the most dangerous missions he had ever been on. Immediately after the success of the mission, two secret service rescue choppers had come for Leon. Because Ada Wong was already on their Most Wanted list for two assassinations of other federal agents, the other chopper gave chase after Ada, quickly shooting her speedboat down and sinking it. Because she was trapped in shark-infested waters, she had no choice but to surrender and be rescued, which slightly disappointed Leon for the fact she gave up so easy. She was facing the death penalty because of espionage charges that condemned her as a traitor to the United States of America and a threat to its national security, but due to the report Leon submitted explaining her full cooperation in aiding him against the Yawdie des Barons as well as saving his life multiple times among other innocent civilians, Ada Wong's verdict was mercifully lowered to life in a maximum high-security prison in the U.S. for international criminals.

A week after her incarceration, he was allowed visitation with her under supervision. Both remained as courteously discreet with one another as they possibly could, and both made their closures with one another in which no hard feelings were held against one another. Despite wanting to say more than just, "Thank you again for assisting the United States in fighting terrorism," he ended his all too brief conversation with his forbidden lover with a salute in which she returned back to him respectfully, and he left the prison half-heartbroken, half content knowing at least he now had her in one place under his watchful eye.

"But now," Leon thought to himself, "you're going to get your chance to fly again, Ada. My crimson valkyrie is going to be handed her sword and her wings back so she can clear the souls of the dead off the battlefield. And I'm going to fight them all with you. Oh, but I know you Ada. I know you won't resist the taste of freedom and you will gladly accept their proposal. I know you will swear an oath before the President of the United States himself that you will give your absolute cooperation in becoming an agent under the Secret Service. I know if you survive the mission you will reveal yourself to be the snake that you are and escape through whatever scheme you and your former employer have maybe already planned behind everyone's backs, even my own. I know you will be my enemy again. I wouldn't have you any other way, Ada. You are more free the way you used to be than I ever will. We will still see each other again in the same situations as we have before, and I will enjoy chasing after you like I always have. But for now, we are going to be partners. I'll never forget the nightmare I shared with you when we first met in that damn town 13 years ago. It would be fitting that we die there together, too, wouldn't it? But I don't believe we will, Ada. Because this time Raccoon City will not be destroyed by any missile, but by the rain of our own gunfire. And I can't think of anyone else I would rather burn that city to the ground with other than you, Crimson Butterfly."

Leon's cell phone rang and he answered it, returning back to his professional attitude. "This is Leon."

"_Leon,"_ came Hunnigan's voice on the phone. _"I've got a good place we can start."_

"I'm all ears, Hunnigan."

"_Back last November, I met a man named Henry Townshend who is known to be a freelance ghost hunter and studies parapsychology. He also writes articles as well as shoots photography for the supernatural magazine, 'Anomalist America.'"_

"Anomalist America, huh?" Leon mused. "Already we're to a good start."

"_Well, what makes him relevant is besides his work on the usual fare of hauntings and the occult, most of his research is on parallel dimensions; opening and crossing portals to other worlds."_

"Like your theory on the Dirac Project. Was that originally where you got it from?" he asked.

"_I admit it was."_ she answered. _"He seemed very convincing as to his involvement as a witness to several murders in the copycat case of the Walter Sullivan slayings."_

"The Sullivan Murders?"

"_Yes, and what makes it the more strange is he knew very intimate details of the murders, despite homicide investigators not having any evidence of him ever actually being at the crime scenes to witness them. He claimed to have seen them through holes in his house."_

Leon tried to keep his skepticism in check. "And do you believe him?" He was very honest and serious in his question, because if she did, then that would mean he would have no choice but to do so also and bring him along to Raccoon City.

"…_To be honest, I really don't know. But right now I think he will be our best bet as far as finding a leading expert to take with us. Now as to whether or not he will want to go to Raccoon City, that will be a different story. So after I hang up with you, I'm going to contact headquarters and see what the pay will be for this mission. Besides, it'll come to no surprise that when I first met him, he seemed kind of 'weird.'"_

"A man who claims to be a peeping tom to serial killers through magic holes is considered weird? Color me surprised, Hunnigan."

Hunnigan managed to laugh a little. _"Duly noted, Leon. But I think given what we have to work with in both the disappearance of the Ground Zero facility and the reappearance of Raccoon City, he may be our best expert. I've got my documents gathered and packed, after I hang up I'll finish with everything else. By the way, did you find any volunteers on your end?"_

"Redfield and Valentine are predisposed at the moment. So are most of the others. None of them from I can tell know of the incident."

"_Well then,"_ began Hunnigan with mock humor. _"I guess that leaves one other person left on your end. Do you think she can be sweet talked into going in with you?"_

"I don't doubt for a moment that she'll say yes to the mission." Leon responded with little to no emotion, as if he were giving a recommendation at a job interview. "I've crossed guns with her many of a time, sometimes on the other end of the barrel. She's as deadly as a black mamba as she is lethally clever. She would do the United States a great service as an agent once the mission is over."

Hunnigan let out a small sigh. _"Well Leon, I hope so too. You know her better than the rest of us, so for your sake, you better keep a close eye on her if she accepts. And while you do, try to behave yourself."_ Her last sentence was, as always, playful.

"Fair enough." Leon said, also playful. "You're the only woman I'm gonna count on in this one, so you better not bring me to any crazies out there. You want my faith, you have it as of now."

"_Thanks, Leon."_ Hunnigan said. _"I'm going to go now and get ready. Give me a call when you're ready and I'll pick you up to drive out to Ashfield, Maine where he lives."_

"Good job, Hunnigan. I'll be ready in less than a hour."

"_Thanks, Leon. Goodbye."_

"Goodbye." Leon disconnected the call, then immediately fell back into his skeptic trap of thinking. Now he really started to think of about this Henry Townshend character. He remembered reading something about the murders around South Ashfield, but he never recalled hearing his name. He wondered if maybe he did the killings, seeing as they were still unsolved? Then he thought of how this man's so-called _knowledge_ will be valuable to the Raccoon City mission, _if_ valuable? "I'm gonna trust you, Hunnigan. Even if it kills me."

* * *

><p><em><strong>Author's Note:<strong>__** As you've read, I've (possibly) eliminated most of the main RE protagonists altogether in their inclusion to this story. The fun thing about crossovers is trying to include as many characters from all sides to interact with one another, but given the more serious nature of both the Resident Evil and Silent Hill storylines, I wanted to do my best to ensure that I wrote something that worked at the right pacing for all characters involved. So for this story, I am going to focus more on the secondary protagonists throughout both series, because I feel it would be unfair to the reader if I waste the "main" protagonists of both franchises on my first experimental fanfic in almost a decade (I feel rusty). As always, I hope you enjoy it as I will hammer out more as quickly as possible. P.S. I am aware of the grammar mistakes of the last two entries of this story and I apologize for not paying closer attention. I promise to take care of that as soon as possible. **_


	4. Chapter 3: Receiver of Wisdom

_**Author's Disclaimer****:**__** All referenced characters, monsters, and locations are copyrighted properties of both Capcom and Konami and this is a respectfully passionate fan work of both their franchises. WARNING: This game story contains scenes of explicit violence, gore and disturbing verbal imagery which may be considered cruel. Parental discretion is advised.**_

* * *

><p><strong>~<span>Chapter 03: Receiver of Wisdom<span>~**

Leon and Hunnigan made it to Ashfield by 1:30 pm the following day. By then it had started to rain. Ashfield was an average-sized town divided into North and South Ashfield located in the state of Maine and was always busy with activity among the people who lived there. North Ashfield was most known for its _Springfield Zoo_ which was highly recommended for vacationing passer-bys. It's main tourist attraction was a 24 year-old Pacific Walrus whom the zookeepers named, "Wally," who in 2003 received national attention by giving birth at old age to it's young cub, "Buttercup." Unfortunately, Wally died shortly after giving birth, but the zoo honored her by declaring her as Springfield Zoo's official mascot. It's also unfortunate that South Ashfield was also famous for another celebrity, who unlike Wally attracting tourist families with children of all ages, attracted vagrant delinquents who were obsessed with serial killers and the occult.

Walter Sullivan, a homeless man living in the South Ashfield Station subway with no traceable relatives, gained national notoriety in 1993 in what was called the "Walter Sullivan Case." At the age of 24, Walter was arrested for the murders of ten people whom he randomly selected over a course of several days. His method of desecrating his victims, regardless of how he had killed them, always included removing their hearts and carving a five-digit series of numbers into their bodies. Well known of the victims were young children, Billy and Miriam Locane, whom had been playing in a road off from their home when Walter killed them both with an axe. The little girl, Miriam, was found violently dismembered. When police finally found and apprehended him, he appeared to be completely incoherent and delusional. Among his ravings was he was being punished by "the red devil," and before he could stand trial for his actions, he committed suicide four days later. It wouldn't be until three years later when the murders started again; four murders in 1996 and four more in 2003. Police suspected a copycat killer, or killers as there was no way Walter could have done them himself. It is, however, interesting to note that despite these latest victims bearing a similar series of numbers on their bodies, their hearts where not removed. It was one of America's most bizarre, unsolved crimes and has since been deemed a cold case.

While driving through the streets of North Ashfield, Hunnigan, whom was still dressed in the same attire earlier that day, was discussing these same details to a driving Leon, who had changed into a black business suit with a white dress shirt and bright crimson tie before the trip. It made for an interesting conversation seeing as he was originally only _vaguely _familiar with the actual case (by vaguely, barely interested at first). They continued to discuss the Walter Sullivan Case among other things as they drove one of many black Toyota Camry's that was owned and operated throughout various government-run services into the pounding rain.

"An unsolved mystery, huh?" Leon asked. "You said that guy, Henry Townshend, had witnessed those murders, right?

"Yeah," Hunnigan replied. "September of that year, I think."

"So what happened to him right after that? Did the police detain him at any point under suspicion of being an accomplice to the murders or even the copycat himself?" Leon thought the most about this part during their trip there.

Hunnigan began, "Well, he was questioned by the police; him and another victim who survived-"

"Another victim?" Leon unintentionally interrupted. "Survived?"

"Oh, yes. I think her name was Eileen Galvin." Hunnigan remembered. "Coincidently, she was Townshend's neighbor during the murders. She, too, claimed Sullivan broke into her apartment and savagely assaulted her. The police and paramedics had found her covered in blood with a broken arm. She was nearly beaten to death."

Despite his experience in fighting against female attackers on his various missions, violence against women was something that always made Leon's blood run cold. "So she shares Townshend's story?"

"Strangely, yes. Even about the portals to the worlds where they saw them. Not only were both of them able to describe Sullivan's appearance, but accurate descriptions of all his past victims as well."

"Why would past murder victims factor in the 2003 murders?" Leon asked.

"They saw them."

"They saw them?"

"They were ghosts."

Leon finally realized the stupidity of this wild goose chase. "Ghosts. Of course."

There was a brief pause between the two as they now entered the suburbs where Henry Townshend was said to have lived. Hunnigan broke the silence with a change of topic. "Did you love her?"

Leon was not expecting that question. Not from her. Hunnigan took in the lack of response to her question and slightly blushed at how personal it was. "I'm sorry, Leon. That was unprofessional of me and is none of my business."

"It's alright, Ingrid." Leon replied, his voice and expression still unfaltering. It was, however, rare that he would refer to her by her first name. "I've known, or thought I've known her, on-and-off for years. We first met each other during the Raccoon City outbreak when she was a spy for Albert Wesker. She had been sent to steal a G-Virus sample from rogue Umbrella scientist William Birkin. I was wounded in a shootout by his wife and fellow scientist, Annette. Ada had saved my life by tending to the bullet wound and we, along with another survivor who was Redfield's sister, fought our way through. Later, we engaged a Tyrant T-103 that was dispatched by Umbrella that was after the same thing. Ada had saved my life again, except this time she was severely wounded. I thought I had watched her die in my arms."

Hunnigan listened intently as Leon continued his story. "But as luck would have it, during the Los Illuminados Incident in 2004 I found her alive and well; still as deadly as ever. Since then, we've been crossing paths on different missions. Sometimes as unlikely partners, but mostly as enemies. But if you ask me, now that she's a jail bird I'm free of the headache."

Hunnigan smiled warmly to herself. "You're a terrible liar, Leon. You know that?"

Leon made no retort, he just continued to drive with his eyes on the road. Hunnigan continued. "I've seen enough spy movies to know that the good guy always has a bad girl on the side that he knows he should be fighting, but always ends up chasing after. I've seen photographs of her in her file on the registry. She _is_ a very attractive woman, Leon."

"…She is." Leon agreed, his eyes still on the road.

Hunnigan stared out the rain-streaked passenger window, longingly. "I've been with the United States Secret Service for around 10 years. I remembered a time in my life when I wanted that same excitement. Instead, all I do is just sit at a desk in front of a screen watching and talking to you while you have all of the adventures. I'd be a liar too if I said I didn't envy you. And her."

The remainder of the drive remained in untouched silence until the car finally rounded the street in which the man they were looking for lived on. Leon was the first to talk. "We're on the street now. Are we close?"

"Last house on the left." Hunnigan responded with a nod.

They then pulled into the driveway of the Townshend property. Through the rain, they could see the outside surrounding enough to show a spacious front yard with no ornaments or trees with the exception of the two pine trees on the left side of the brick, one-story house. Tall green hedges with now dying roses trimmed like a wall fenced tightly around the home. The areas visible past the brush were of course the front door that was white oak with a large, decorative glass at it's center and the pair of double-hung windows to the left. There was a garage with a large automatic door spaced for two vehicles for the inside in front of the driveway. In front of it already parked was surprisingly a historical white 1959 Miller-Meteor Cadillac with red tailfins that was in it's time known to serve as an ambulance. Leon knew that vehicles like this ranged in the $200,000's, which now peaked his interest in what kind of work this man was paid for.

The two agents parked beside the owner's vehicle, exited, walked up the walkway to the door and knocked. After two knocks, a blurred figure could be seen slowly, maybe cautiously, to the door. The figure stopped and looked as though he were trying to determine who was outside first. "Who is it, if you don't mind first?" came a gentle male voice from behind the door.

"We are Special Agents Ingrid Hunnigan and Leon S. Kennedy." answered Hunnigan. "We're from the United States Secret Service and if you don't mind, may we have a word with you? I believe you may remember me from last year when we discussed your theories on the Dirac Project together?"

"Oh! It's you!" came the pleasantly surprised voice on the other end with sounds of the locks unbolting and the door knob turning. "I'm sorry about that. Too many people asking about the Cadillac today."

The door opened and standing before them was a somewhat shy man who appeared in his mid-30's, dressed in a dark green, unbuttoned, plaid long sleeve. Underneath was a lighter green shirt which Leon noticed had some kind of Baphomet-like creature printed on it, as well as faded jeans and black boots underneath. His face was slightly hidden under shabby brown hair with small strands of gray hair all about it, and facial hair that was somewhere between a five o'clock shadow and a full beard. Despite his disheveled outward appearance, the dark green eyes above the dark under rings below them gave the impression of a sensitive man who had endured many hardships. His weak smile was still warm and welcoming. "It's good to see you both." greeted Henry Townshend. "Please, come out of the rain."

Both agents shook hands with Henry as they entered his house. They were led into his living room, a nice but small-spaced dwelling with wooden walls and two white love seats with read side pillows on each side of the room. Other furniture, beside the standard house-hold flat screen against the entrance wall, included small golden-rimmed mirror above the facing loveseat, tabletop with wooden-base lamp and a burning scented candle, and crystal chandeliers hanging from the center. To the right was the kitchen with bright oak cabinets and a hallway leading to the remainder of the home's rooms.

In the kitchen was a woman dressed in what Leon could tell was a pink coat with white fur around the collar and sleeve openings, a blue denim skirt which showed off the backs of her pale legs down to her sneakers. Her back at the time was turned to them as she was bent over into the kitchen's refrigerator; looking for something. Leon successfully maintained his professional politeness by not staring at her position. While scrounging around in the refrigerator, the woman inquired on the guests. "So Henry, who's visiting?"

"You'll be surprised to hear we have some special guests paying us a visit today." said Henry politely. "Both of them are with the Secret Service."

"What?" said the woman, a little alarmed. "Oh god, honey. _Please_ tell me you didn't piss off the UFO people."

"No honey, at least I don't think so." replied Henry, surprisingly honest. "One of them is Ms. Hunnigan from our visit to the Capital, remember?"

"Oh, yeah!" the woman remembered. Then she finally raised out from the refrigerator holding a beverage, revealing herself to being one of the most attractive women Leon had ever met. She had medium, shoulder-length brown hair draped around lightly freckled cheeks and the most hauntingly bright emerald eyes that he had ever seen; almost like that of a cat. Both her eyes and long smile that brightened her cheeks more gave her a friendly, outgoing appearance. "How've you been, Ingrid? It isn't about Henry's _article_, is it?"

Hunnigan chuckled. "No, Eileen. We're not here about that. It's really good to see you both again. I'd like to thank you again for the candle gift set. Really did wonders for the chi around the apartment, not to mention made it smell fantastic. I really hadn't felt more relaxed in years."

"You're welcome." the woman, Eileen, replied to the warm compliment. "I remember those being the Celtic Spirits brand mixed with orange, clove and cinnamon. Said to be good for meditation and made by Scottish faith heelers, so if you like them I'll hook you up with some more later. You guys want something to drink? We have soda or tea?"

"Oh, yeah." Henry said with pride. "Eileen made some great herbal meditation tea earlier. You should give it a try if your experiencing some stress. We could send a recipe with you if you want?"

"I've got a good idea we're going to need it, but for now if you don't mind, maybe we could have some coffee?" Hunnigan asked humbly. "We've been driving for quite a while."

"Sure, I'll go ahead and start a pot." volunteered Henry. "You guys can relax in the living room with Eileen. I'll be in there shortly."

"Okay, thank you." Hunnigan replied as her and Leon where led into the living room to sit. "By the way, this is Agent Leon S. Kennedy. Leon, this is Mr. Townshend's wife, Eileen. You still work as a nurse for St. Jerome's Hospital, right?"

"Yeah, still an angel of mercy to the sick. Pleasure to meet you, Agent Kennedy."

"Pleasure's all mine, Mrs. Townshend. You can call me Leon if you like, seeing as your friends of Ingrid."

"Sure thing, Leon." Eileen replied as she sat opposite of the two agents. "And you can call me, Eileen."

The three exchanged pleasantries, then was joined by Henry as he carried out two mugs of freshly brewed coffee. Leon listened to their casual conversation, mainly between the women, After a few more friendly exchanges, it was now time for the dark business Leon and Hunnigan had brought to Ashfield with them. Hunnigan began first. "It's been great seeing you both again. I wish it could have been under better circumstances."

Henry, who was sitting next to Eileen, exchanged looks with each other. Then Eileen asked, "Why, was there a murder or something?"

"No, not quite. You may remember your husband and I talked at great length about his theories on the disappearance of our Ground Zero facility in the Arklay Mountains."

Henry, now having something of interest to him to talk about, responded. "Yes, I've been obsessed with that since it happened. I've been going over the original news reports, interviews with former Umbrella scientists who left the company after the outbreak, and even went as far as contacting one of them. She was very nice, really. She gave me more information than I felt I deserved, even old faxes between team leaders. But of course, they're no more helpful than the ones found before the hole appeared. The hole, as you know, has been immeasurable. No other hole on this earth exists of that magnitude. It's depth, I'm very sure, is infinite."

"I wouldn't have doubted it." Leon agreed. "I saw it for myself once. It was a bright, cloudless spring day. I stood on the edge of it and I even remember how weak my knees felt trying to stare into it. Stare _past_ it. No matter how much I tried, I wasn't brave enough keep looking into it or even beyond it. It was almost like a sea of nothing that stretched with no end; swallowing everything."

Leon swallowed hard and it felt like it echoed throughout the room. "I've seen many things in my life that I never thought could exist. Things I never wanted to see. I can describe to you the nauseating stench of a walking, rotting corpse and the feeling of trying not to vomit while you try to snap their neck from their body when you've run out of ammunition. I can tell you how I once had a chainsaw so close to my face, I could count the fingernail scratches from the victims that were murdered by the infected villager who wielded it. I am confident in saying that nothing I have ever been forced to witness in all my life has terrified me more than that massive hole did that day. It has the power to make a man feel powerless, godless, insignificant. I felt like that hole wanted me."

After a brief moment of silence, Henry continued with the conversation. "It's interesting you mention it felt like a sea. Are you familiar with what the Dirac sea is?" he asked.

"Can't say I've ever sailed it." replied Leon.

"It's not a real sea, Leon." explained Hunnigan with a playful laugh. "It's a complicated physics theory."

"Yes, it is." agreed Henry with another warm smile. "I'll try my best to describe it in layman's terms. It's a theoretical volume of space, a vacuum if you will, as an infinite sea of negative particle energy. This 'vacuum' is the state in which all negative-energy states are filled without any of the positive energy; making introducing a single electron impossible with all the negative energy. Besides, if the electron lost energy by emitting photons it would be forbidden from dropping below zero energy. It's interpreted as a unitary transformation used to diagonalize the total energy system's operator, which yields the steady-state solutions to the Schrödinger equation. It's an identification between the two free field theory operators of creation and annihilation."

"The way you describe it, it almost sounds like a black hole." said Leon, slightly perplexed by what Henry was saying.

"In a way, it could be viewed that way." Henry said. "Do you know what a _Schrödinger's cat_ is?"

"I'm afraid I don't." replied Leon. "Is that also a theory?"

"Yes," also replied Henry, leaning closer forward. "It's more of a thought experiment, really, which involves paradoxes applied to everyday objects and living things. There's an interpretation of the Schrödinger's cat that suggests every event creates an 'observer state' through quantum suicide. These 'observer states,' are parallel worlds that are decoherent from one another."

Leon was admitably interested. "So are you saying everything can exist in another world, but different? Like there could be a different me somewhere?"

"Exactly!" Henry said, eyes widening. "So here is what _I_ believe. The whole world, I'm sure, can agree that the Umbrella Corporation was at it's heart an evil organization that flourished from other people's misery. They masqueraded around as a pharmaceutical company while it planned top-secret operations utilizing experiments in genetic engineering and biological weaponry to profit off future wars. Raccoon City was their greatest legacy of that."

"I wholeheartedly agree with you." said Leon, remembering how much he hated that organization for all the suffering it caused.

"So _my_ theory is this: despite Umbrella focusing solely on bio genetics, I believe there might have been members amongst them that might have been inspired by the Schrödinger cat theory and wanted to find a way to either cross into another world, or maybe even create their own." Henry cleared his throat and continued. "This is where I think the Dirac Project fits in. I don't think Umbrella ever had the opportunity to finish their experiment, let alone maybe even begin on it because the company folded in 2003..."

Everyone in the room, including Eileen, noticed Henry had trailed off and just seemed to stare into nothing. Thinking about that year always bothered him. After a very brief moment, he shook off it and continued. "Sorry, anyway, when the U.S. Government took over the Ground Zero facility, that was when they found papers referencing to the Dirac Project."

"But you remember the papers we found were useless. They never explained anything." said Leon.

"Knowledge is never useless, Leon. Only less or more dangerous." Henry leaned even closer. "I _think_ that someone found something additional on the project, maybe even hidden elsewhere on the site. Maybe they stumbled upon the remains of the experiment itself. Why they didn't report their findings to the government, I don't know. It could have been the excitement of being the first to make a breakthrough discovery and being rewarded for it. People are very greedy. They reactivated the Dirac Project and as a result, a mistake might have been made somewhere, resulting in the hole you saw that spring day. An infinite sea of Dirac."

Leon was impressed. "I see. I'll have to agree with you and Hunnigan on this one. It could have been very possible that hole _was_ infinite space."

Henry looked at Eileen puzzlingly, who returned the look. They held hands and Henry spoke. "I'm sorry, but I've noticed you keep referring to the hole in the Arklay Mountains in the past tense. Why is that? Has there been a development in the investigation of it? That's why you're here talking to me, right?"

Henry raised up from the loveseat. "The Ground Zero facility came back, didn't it?"

"No, it didn't." Leon said before finally dropping it on them. "Raccoon City _did_."

Time froze in the living room for what felt like an hour. As Leon gave Henry and Eileen time to make sense of what they just hear, Leon thought more about Henry's theory and it was starting to make more and more sense to him. Umbrella, he knew, had absolutely no problem in defying the laws of both science and morality. It would have only been a matter of time before they would go this far. It bothered him that the findings of such a dangerous experiment was never reported to the government, probably like Henry had suggested, due to selfish reasons. He still didn't know his enemy, that city, but at least he now had an idea as to what it was. And he thought maybe if Henry agreed to join his team, he could help him infiltrate it. And fight whatever the hell it brought back with it.

Henry fell back to the loveseat in a slump, staring at the floor. Finally, he spoke. "I'm going to brew another pot of coffee."

* * *

><p><em><strong><span>Author's Note<span>:**__** So there you have it. You may have noticed some things in this chapter. 1) The references to the theories of the Dirac Sea and Schrödinger's Cat were inspired by two of my favorite animes, "Neon Genesis Evangelion" and "Hellsing" respectively. I feel that not only are these two theories important for the explanation of this fanfic's premise, but also helps build an explanation as to how "crossovers" can exist. And 2) the introduction and personalities of Silent Hill 4 survivors, Henry Townshend and Eileen Galvin. There's always been debate as to a real "love interest" ever existed between the two in the game, where they were really no more than just neighbors who were forced into a terrifying situation. I felt (especially after the game's good endings) that despite nothing being there possibly at first, something deeper might have developed there after surviving their experiences with Walter Sullivan and "The Room." In my fanfic, they are a couple who's strength in one another has gotten them through the hardships crossed; forming a bond from tragedy. I'm going to focus more on Henry's personality as the story goes. Maybe it will explain why I didn't want to "break" him, which seems to be popular with SH survivors dealing with their own insanity. I'll be adding more very shortly…**_


	5. Chapter 4: One More Soul to the Call

_**Author's Disclaimer**__**: All referenced characters, monsters, and locations are copyrighted properties of both Capcom and Konami and this is a respectfully passionate fan work of both their franchises. **__**WARNING**__**: This game story contains scenes of explicit violence, gore and disturbing verbal imagery which may be considered cruel. Parental discretion is advised.**_

* * *

><p><strong>~<span>Chapter 04: One More Soul to the Call<span>~**

Once Henry remembered how to walk into the kitchen, he got up left for a cup of coffee of his own. Once there, he then struggled remembering the mechanics of even working the coffee brew pot. The two Secret Service agents absolutely dumbfounded him. While it brewed, he went over to the sink and turned on the faucet; splashing cold water on his face. This and the coffee were to ensure he stay alert and concentrate unto every detail that the two agents in the living room were about to tell him. He finally returned to his seat with the coffee as his wife engaged them on the topic.

"Raccoon City is _back?_" Eileen asked. "As in, the hole is now _gone,_ and the city has returned in it's place?"

"That's right." said Hunnigan. "We believe it reappeared two days ago. It was discovered by accident by local law enforcement on a police chase. We were equally as shocked as both of you were when we first found out."

"Oh my god. Did all of the people trapped in the city come back too?" asked Eileen.

"We're not sure." replied Leon. "What we do know is that all of the original guards that were stationed around the hole disappeared with it's reappearance and that it has been confirmed that there is hostile activity inside the city. Fearing that a possible outbreak returned with it, the Bioterrorism Security Assessment Alliance sent a team in to investigate. We immediately lost contact with them the moment they entered the city. Only one of the survivors returned, a respected soldier among his peers, and he came back a raving lunatic. He killed himself shortly after telling us his team was wiped out by what he called _demons from Hell _after their surroundings warped."

Henry lifted his head up from his coffee; eyes wide as Eileen lifted her hand to her mouth and whimpered, "Oh my god, that's terrible."

"Did the soldier claim to have heard anything before their surroundings changed?" Henry asked; eyes still unblinking. "Anything like fog horns or air raid sirens?"

"He died before he could tell us more. But now that you mentioned it, we were told that the police officers who originally discovered the city claimed to have heard something like an Emergency Alert System wailing in the air." replied Leon, scratching his chin as he pondered their connection.

Henry thought to himself quietly, then spoke. "Have there been any other disappearances reported? Does the public know yet?"

"At the moment, we've taken steps to suppress the incident as to not cause panic or mass flocking to the site. But if we don't investigate Raccoon City before it's too late, the international press is going to eat us alive for answers we don't have. Or worse, the virus could have survived with the city and may spread out into the surrounding areas."

"I see." Henry said, his head lowered back down. "So you're in need of an expert that you think can help you guys out the next time you go in, is that right? That's why you're both here, right? To ask me?"

"We're sorry to trouble you both about this." said Hunnigan, sincerely. "But we're in need of-let me rephrase that-we are in _desperate_ need for anyone that remotely has an idea of what it could be _and_ accompany the next BSAA team into Raccoon City to aid in their knowledge while on the field."

"That's right." added Leon. "Hunnigan feels you're the most qualified. Not only due to your studies in parapsychology, but also due to your experiences in which you claimed to have survived the Walter Sullivan murders under a similar situation."

"Uh-uh." said Eileen, shaking her head. "Uh-uh, hell no! Henry's not doing it! He's not going there!"

Henry stood up, also shaking his head in disbelief while his hands were on his hips. "Back then, it was a different situation. This… and you need my help? I'm a photographer and journalist. I'm an average ghost hunter at most! The biggest thing I've ever been asked to look into was an elderly couple's bed & breakfast inn. You sure I'd be qualified for this?"

Both Leon and Hunnigan stood up from their seats. Leon approached him and spoke, "After listening first hand to your theory on the Dirac Project, you've convinced me that your qualified for this. If things get strange in there beyond our explanation, we're going to need you to tell us what's going on and what to do next. Your service and expertise are most definitely needed for this mission. On behalf of the United States Government, we formally ask that you assist me and my team on a second mission into Raccoon City. In return for your services, the government will pay you and negotiate any dollar amount you ask for with lodging and expenses paid for on your way to Washington D.C., where you will be further briefed and will meet your teammates."

Henry's head was spinning from everything he was hearing. "This is just like an end-of-the-world movie." he muttered.

Leon's cell phone began to ring while Henry contemplated the request. Leon saw it was from headquarters and answered. "This is Agent Leon."

"_Agent Leon,"_ came Col. Michaels voice over the phone, somewhat distressed but still calm. _"Have you found that expert yet?"_

"Yes, Colonel. I'm at his house in Maine now. We'll hurry back when we're finished."

"_While your at it, might as well find another one too, just to be on the safe side. I'd do it fast."_

"Why, what's the matter? Has there been a development on Raccoon City?"

"_Yeah… something like that. Turn on the television. I'm sure any channel at this point will suffice."_

Leon already knew what he was about to see. He turned to the couple. "Could you turn on your television, please?"

Her shocked eyes still glued to Leon, Eileen complied and grabbed the remote to turn on the widescreen. The television picture instantly came on and Eileen let out a shocked scream. As Leon suspected, it was now there on the news; being reported on every channel via special announcement. Everything from news helicopter footage to amateur photos and cell phone video. Raccoon City looked all the more sinister as calm and fog shrouded as it was. Every now and again after the new footage would loop, it would always come back to the virus outbreak pictures and videos from when the first outbreak happened. The female reporter commanded her role like any experienced veteran reporter would in front of the camera operator.

"_This, ladies and gentlemen, is no illusion! This is not any movie effect or some sick hoax. What you are seeing is the 'real' Raccoon City; returning BACK from the dead! As the world remembers, back in 1998, Raccoon City was plagued by a devastating virus in which we still feel the ripples of today. Over 100,000 lives were lost in which the city was overrun by the infected living dead! For over a week, the monsters rampaged through the streets and savagely attacked the living! In the end, it wasn't until the former president and congress called for the sterilization of Raccoon City with a nuclear missile launched into it. Nothing survived the destruction! And now, we see it has come back from a nightmare America has tried hard to suppress. In the next hour, the President will be making an announcement on the reappearance of Raccoon City, perhaps to maybe give us some kind of explanation on this phenomena. But for now, I have a few people here with me on the street who have, what they feel, some possible explanations. One of them, I believe, is a minister for a church in the neighboring town…"_

"Oh no." said Hunnigan. "This is about to get very bad."

Leon put the phone back to his ear. "Okay, so what is the status on our time frame."

"_We've made no announcement on casualties, but now the new guard we placed around the vicinity disappeared too! All except one of them; swears he saw the fog roll out the city and take them! Thankfully, this one didn't blow his brains out. But listen: find at least one more expert FAST! Our PR has too many excited reporters running up their asses with flashlights for answers. Get who you need and hurry back to the Capital so we can start slapping together a team of commandoes to sweep it. Good luck, Agent."_

"You got it, Colonel." Leon disconnected the call and then looked up to Henry. "Well, there you have it. What do you say, Henry?"

Henry, still looking sternly at the news report on television, gave Leon and Hunnigan his answer. "…I'm gonna do it."

"What?" Eileen shouted.

"That's right, Eileen." Henry said, now turning to her. "I've decided to go to Raccoon City and help Leon any way I can."

"Oh, hell no!" Eileen launched from her seat to face him, her emerald eyes ablaze. "I'm not going to let you risk your life like this!"

Henry put up his hands in defense. "Eileen, we both saw what was on television with our own two eyes. The existence of that city proves I was onto something."

"Well, good. Then go on TV and do an interview with the other people. They can use your theory to select a better team of scientists from around the world to check it out. Why do _you_ have to go and not _them?_" Eileen demanded.

Henry shrugged. "I dunno. Eileen, these people need me."

"I need you!" Eileen shouted. "I've always needed you."

"I know, honey. And you're the primary reason why I'm doing this." Henry tried to console. "Besides, you heard Leon. The government pay is going to be huge. We can finally buy ourselves a better home."

Eileen retorted, "We make enough money from the magazine _alone_, not to mention my job at the hospital and your ghost hunting on the side! We were even planning on opening an online store to sell our Medi Plus Ampoules and Holy Candles from the safety and comfort of our own home, honey. Please don't do this. This isn't your responsibility, this time. For once in your life, finally say 'no' to someone!"

After a moment of contemplation, Henry looked at Agents Kennedy and Hunnigan, then he looked into the burning, glassy eyes of the woman he worshipped more than anything on this earth. He remembered the first time he walked passed her through the hall they both lived on at the South Ashfield Heights. Never had he felt so intimidated by someone as attractive as she was that day. To think, he had thought to himself again and again, that all it took to give him courage to talk to her was the same thing he fought for her life to protect her against. He decided when he finally escaped from _that room_ and saw her smile at the hospital the next day, that he was going to spend the rest of his life getting to know her, getting to love her, and getting to look after her.

Henry stepped toward his wife, his left hand cupped her waist, his right stroking her cheek underneath her silky curtain of hair. "Eileen… before I met you, I had no problem hiding from responsibility. That was back when I could decide for myself whether or not I wanted to leave my apartment everyday. Then, I saw you. And I swear to God I spent every safe moment I could watching you from that hole in those terrible days; just to see if you were still living. Still laughing. Now I've been married to you for five of the best years in my life. Eileen, I love you. And you are the only reason that I will never say 'no' to anyone ever again."

Eileen's gentle face softened back to porcelain and she averted her eyes away from him a little. She squeaked, "Henry… you're such geek."

Henry smiled that same weak, warm-filled smile and they embraced each other tightly, but gently. The two agents dared not interrupt the sweet, harmonious silence that filled the room; drowning out the horror of the city on the television. Henry pulled only slightly away from the arms of his caring, yet sometimes condescending wife, to finally acknowledge Leon and Hunnigan. "I'll agree to help you. But only under the condition that my wife can accompany me up to where your home base is going to be located. She's going to have to help me with some important equipment just in case we face the worst."

Leon nodded. "Agreed. We can't thank the two of you enough for your help in this national crisis. I'll personally see to it your husband's safety during this mission."

"Thanks." Eileen said with a sheepish smile. "Ingrid, sorry I came off like a total bitch-"

"Please, don't apologize." said Hunnigan with a smile. "This is a lot to be asking of the two of you. We are completely grateful for your cooperation."

Henry nodded to them. "We'll start packing now. I'm going to need a few hours to prepare first before we leave."

"We understand, please do." said Leon, shaking Henry's hand. "Also, we need one more additional expert as well. Can you suggest anyone you know that would also be of assistance?"

"I do know a few people." Henry, said. "If you give me your numbers, I'll call you with their details and I'll bring them with me."

"You got it." said Leon.

They then exchanged numbers with one another. Despite his somewhat odd friendliness, Leon really liked Henry already. He had expected Hunnigan to bring him to some nut job, but this person didn't seem too bad to him. Even Hunnigan and Eileen seemed to be good friends with one another. He remembered his friendship with Detective Ark Thompson and how he hadn't seen him in years. Leon requested his services months after Raccoon City's destruction to collect evidence of Umbrealla's illegal activities during the Sheena Island Incident. Since then, he attended bars on nights off with colleagues, but all were really just acquaintances. Even Hunnigan. He politely pretended to not notice the gentle public intimacy of Henry and Eileen kissing and telling each other they love one another. Love, Leon thought. Then he thought about Ada. And then he realized just how much he envied those two like Hunnigan said she had envied him and Ada earlier.

* * *

><p><em><strong>Author's Note<strong>__**: I have nothing really of not in this one. Maybe except to talk a little more about Henry and Eileen. One thing I know is cliché is the whole "trust me, I've done this before" attitude. I really wanted to, and I hope I accomplished that, downplay that with those two (I'm not sure if I can do it for my "next character"). I wanted to portray Henry and Eileen as a couple who survived a terrible tragedy and through the therapeutic strength of their mutual love and caring for one another, they are now after all these years able to live semi-normal lives. There are, of course, going to be more SH characters thrown into the mix that will not be so fortunate, especially one that's going to be the central SH character of this story. I'm still keeping the chapters coming, so stay tuned… **_


	6. Chapter 5: 11121

_**Author's Disclaimer**__**: All referenced characters, monsters, and locations are copyrighted properties of both Capcom and Konami and this is a respectfully passionate fan work of both their franchises. **__**WARNING**__**: This game story contains scenes of explicit violence, gore and disturbing verbal imagery which may be considered cruel. Parental discretion is advised.**_

* * *

><p><strong>~<span>Chapter 05: 11121<span>~**

After a few more minutes of discussing the Raccoon City mission, Eileen, as promised left the room and returned with the aforementioned scented candles that Hunnigan had enjoyed so much. When Hunnigan received them, everyone said their goodbyes and both Leon and Hunnigan left the Townshend residence to head back to Washington D.C.. It was starting to get late, but thankfully the rain had subsided. The night looked a little more clearer than the earlier day had felt. As the two agents left Ashfield, their casual chatting resumed.

"Henry seems to be a nice guy." Leon complemented. "His wife was very nice, too."

"I had talked to them on-and-off online in the first months of meeting them." Hunnigan said. "To be honest, I almost didn't suggest him. There were a few other people in the my list of contacts, but all of them had really questionable reputations. Henry seemed like the only one that lived a quasi-normal life and was respectable among his colleagues."

"I'm just thankful he wasn't bat-shit insane." Leon joked. "I'm almost always an excellent judge of character. I can sense that man has a good heart."

After a brief silence, Leon glanced over to Hunnigan while he drove, and saw her staring out the window again. "Don't let the mission get to you, Hunnigan."

"Don't worry, I have faith as always in your ability." When Hunnigan quickly glanced over to him and returned back to the window, Leon noticed behind the glasses that her eyes were pink and glassy.

Leon did a double take wondering if he was seeing things. "Are… are you _crying?_"

"What?" she laughed. "No, I'm not crying!"

"Are you sure?" he asked.

"Of course I'm sure."

Leon wasn't convinced. "…Bullshit. You are crying." he playfully teased.

"No I'm not!" Hunnigan playfully denied.

"You are!"

"I'm not!"

"Oh, bullshit, you are!"

"Shut up!"

"Yeah, you are!" Their laughter subsided and then Leon pressed her again. "Okay Ingrid, seriously. What's wrong?"

"…Okay, I was crying a little." Hunnigan admitably chuckled.

"Why?" Leon asked, really concerned.

"…I remember looking into Eileen's background when I first found out she was one of Walter Sullivan's victims. I even read the article in their local newspaper where they said as she was being taken to the hospital, she kept lapsing in and out of consciousness. When ever she would come to, she would just lay there and cry. Police had stayed that night with her as long as they were allowed to question her in hopes she could describe her attacker. She couldn't talk even when she would be awake. She would just lay there and _cry_… like she had just suffered the most traumatic experience in her life. Like even in her own mind, she was just lost."

Leon returned his eyes back to the road as Hunnigan continued. "I imagine that, Leon. The stress and total helplessness of being invaded like that. Of someone breaking into your home when your alone and vulnerable and doing what they want to you. I think about that and then I see the pictures on her walls in the living room of her and Henry. Her smile is _so_ big in all those pictures, especially with him. I think _how_ can it be possible to finally return back to that? I also read in the reports that while Henry was being questioned, he claimed that while they were always evading Sullivan after he came back for her, Henry never left her side. He was always there for her. Protecting her."

Hunnigan turned back to Leon, smiling, and showing her tear-brimmed eyes. "They say that if a good man does nothing, then that is evil enough."

Leon glanced back at Hunnigan. His face still blank, but none-the-less admiring her words that he equally felt the power of. Hunnigan turned back to the window and finally added, "Henry told me online once that a good man, no matter how weak they are, should never say 'no' to someone who needs help. I would've married him too, if it were me…"

Leon, for the first time during this precursor to a nightmare, smiled happily and watched the road in front of him. He said, "When this mission is over, if we survive, I want to take all three of you out to dinner at the best restaurant in the Capital. And I'm going to pay for the whole thing."

* * *

><p>Three hours later, back at the Townshend residence, Henry and Eileen were making their final preparations for their trip to Washington D.C.. Both of them wasted no time in scouring their resources, taking inventory of what they had to spare for the mission, and make the necessary phone calls. Once finished, Henry asked Eileen to go ahead and begin packing while he called Leon and Hunnigan about the additional expert he planned on bringing with him. Afterwards, he said he would start loading his supplies and equipment into the Cadillac.<p>

While Eileen was upstairs packing, Henry was in their basement that was remodeled into an office and storage area where his ghost hunting equipment and bookshelves filled with various books and documents on parapsychology and the occult. Under the wooden-planked stairs, was an old wooden picnic table bench with the dry red paint peeling off from old age and wear. Henry had placed the bench there as additional sitting room for guests and clients. Henry was currently sitting in his small leather chair at his glossed-oak office desk which had his office computer and monitor equipment. He reached for the cordless phone and dialed the number Leon had left him. In less than two rings, there was a response.

"_This is Agent Kennedy."_ replied the voice on the phone.

"Hey, Leon. It's Henry."

"_It's good to hear from you. What's up?"_

"Me and Eileen are ready to leave now. Listen, I've found a volunteer whom I think might be of use to us while on the mission."

"_Excellent job, Henry. Who do we have."_

"I've interviewed him once for Anomalist America. On some occasions, both of us as well as his girlfriend have accompanied me on some ghost hunts where they helped with equipment. I talked to him earlier. He was a little reluctant to do it at first, but he now wants to help. His name is Alex Shepherd and he lives in Pleasant River near here. He's a very good guy. However, I've gotta warn you as a little formality about something, seeing as you're a Secret Service agent."

"_Does he have a criminal record?"_ asked Leon.

"Well, he _did_ spend four years Alchemilla Hospital's psychiatric ward. Apparently, he was delusional after a boating accident in which his younger brother died. He later escaped and tried to go back to his hometown in Shepherd's Glen to be with his family, but he claimed in the interview that his town had been cursed and everyone was replaced with monsters. Says the only person he managed to have escaped with was his _now_ girlfriend. He told me before our interview he would like to remain anonymous because of his asylum escapee status."

Leon took a deep sigh on the other end of the receiver. _"Henry, I want you to know how important mentality is on a battlefield. All it takes is one unstable link in the chain of teamwork for everything to go horribly wrong on a mission and put the lives of comrades at risk along with everyone else. This isn't necessarily the same as asking a hardened criminal to join the mission. An escaped mental patient who's been on the run could endanger the lives of everyone on the mission."_

"I understand your concern. But both of us come from similar situations. Not only did I encounter the ghosts of Walter's murder victims, but I killed monsters in his worlds, too. The monsters he described were similar to the ones I fought. He's the only one I know that claims to have had the same experience in fighting otherworldly monsters." Henry gripped the phone. "I'm asking you to take him on. I'll assume full responsibility for him if I have to."

Leon pondered for a moment. _"Alright, Henry. Seeing as we're in a very tight situation and you've known him for a while, I have no choice but to take your word for it."_

"Thank you. Also, he wants me to tell you he has two requests: 1, he wants his psychiatric record wiped clean. He claims he's better now and accepts that his brother's death was due to his negligence. And 2, he says he wants to have some kind of military career after this. Says it's to honor his late veteran father's wish."

"…_I can't make any promises, but I will see to it that we put him through a psychiatric evaluation test after the mission. If he passes, I'm sure we can pull a few strings."_

"Thank you, Leon. I promise you won't be disappointed. His father was Colonel Adam J. Shepherd; a retired military man and police sheriff. The girlfriend, too, shares his story about the monsters and says Alex used the skills his father taught him to kill many of them. Seeing as I'm mostly the brains of this group, I think Alex will make an excellent choice for the brawn your needing."

"_Very well, you've convinced me. Bring him along with you. I look forward to meeting him as well."_

"Well… I guess this is it. Where do we meet you?"

"_Find a hotel there first. Afterwards, give us a call and we will come by and lead you to the base. We look forward to you and Alex's participation in the mission. We should do fine by the both of you."_

Henry felt relieved and complimented that Leon would think so highly of his opinions. "Yes, sir. I'll make sure we won't let you down. I swear I'll do my best!"

"_I know you will, Henry. I trust you. I'll see you all at the Capital. Good bye."_

"Good bye… see you then."

Henry disconnected the call and hung up the phone. Suddenly, he started to feel unusually tired. When he tried to raise out of the chair, his skull began throbbing from what felt like a probing pain that made his heart race. This was a familiar headache, he had thought. All _too_ familiar. Next came the hairs on the back of his neck standing on end with ripples of ice sweat rolling down his spine. Then, a nauseating stench from something that smelled long dead. Henry slowly turned around, and upon staring at who he had hoped against hope he would never have to cross again, yelped in sheer shock and terror as he tumbled backwards over his office chair unto the floor. He scrambled on all fours to one of the desk drawers and pulled out a handgun loaded with silver bullets. Still paralyzed in cold terror on his back, he shakily aimed his gun at Walter Sullivan.

Walter sat quietly on the bench hidden under the shade of the stairs; his eyes staring at the floor. Henry noticed that Walter more resembled his crucified corpse from when Henry found his body in a hidden room inside his own apartment years ago. He was still wearing his fully-buttoned, blood-soaked blue trench coat with khakis and brown, muddy boots. His face was in the deterioration stages of decomposition; deathly white with a bluish hue. His lips were cracked and his thin, thread-like colorless hair hung over his peeling scalp. Sitting next to Walter, Henry saw and recognized, was also Sullivan's younger half of his former self who had a round face and dark shabby hair. The child's cold eyes, void of any emotion, stared off into nothing as he playfully kicked his feet back and fourth from where they dangled over the bench. He was dressed exactly the same as his adult self, but with a blood-stained yellow coat.

"I like this room." the adult Walter spoke, with that same oblivious tone that matched his distant childish behavior. "There's so many interesting books down here, that you can read for hours, I bet. Still though, I don't think it's as beautiful as _Her…_"

"I shouldn't be surprised." Henry's shaky voice with steel as much as he dared. "First Raccoon City, now _you!_ What do you want with me?"

"…The spirits say you like to investigate things. Special things, like a detective of sorts." Walter mockingly smiled and lazily lifted his dying gaze at Henry. "Isn't that true, Henry? That you still want to tie yourself to my world? The one that you and your neighbor belong to?"

Walter lowered his gaze back to the floor; his shoulders slumped. "It's kinda funny, you know? When people are going to die, they usually fight as hard as they can to escape their fate. You, on the other hand, act as though you want to run back to me by looking for the dead in your spare time. Are you teasing me…?"

"…_Why_ are you here?" asked Henry, who's forehead was now drenched in sweat.

Walter raised his head slightly as if he were looking to the sky for that response. "Those spirits… they tell me someone else's mother is sleeping too."

"Mother?" Henry asked. He remembered Walter Sullivan had haunted his old apartment, Room 302, because he thought it was his _Mother_ after his biological parents abandoned him in it immediately after his birth. Henry wondered if _someone else's mother_ was referring to another room. "Who's mother? What is she?"

Walter pointed diagonally towards the ceiling; above ground. "The city where the dead still walk."

"Oh my God!" Henry couldn't believe it. He didn't want to. "How is that possible?"

Walter smiled, with all the memories flooding back into him of hearing that song, over, and over, and over. "…The Ritual of the Holy Assumption. Someone is trying to beat me to it."

"The 21 Sacraments…" Henry whispered to himself.

Walter's smile suddenly twisted into a frown and he whipped his glare into Henry's direction. He then got up from the bench and began to slowly stalk towards him from out of the shadows. Henry panicked and prepared for an attack from Walter, gripping the gun with both shaking hands. His finger rested on the trigger and was about to squeeze when from upstairs, Eileen's voice shattered the thick tension.

"Hey, honey? Did you fall down?" she asked. "I heard a noise. Are you all right?"

_Oh God,_ Henry thought and begged, _please don't let her come down the stairs_. Henry finally gained his wits and responded, "…Y-yeah. Yeah honey, I just tripped over this chair."

There was a silence that felt like it lingered for an eternity. Then, the same constant of scurrying footsteps from room to room upstairs continued back as it normally did. Henry breathed a sigh of relief; his heart still fighting to rip out of his chest. Walter slowly looked up towards the basement ceiling, where beyond he recognized that sweet angel's voice. A wicked smile wrapped around his dead face that made him even more hideous.

"Ah." he said. "She's here, too? Tell me, Henry. How long do think you can still protect her from me?"

Henry's panic went to a seething, murderous rage. His voice kept low enough not to go beyond the basement. "You stay away from her, you maniac."

"Don't worry." Walter comforted mockingly. "Both of you are safe from me for now. I have all your lives to hunt you down and add you to my next collection of sacrifices. But tonight, I am here strictly just to visit an old friend."

"You're not a friend of mine, Walter! You locked me in my apartment and made me fight for my life while I nearly starved to death! You murdered all those people! You even tried to kill Eileen, you sick bastard!"

That name, _bastard, _turned Walter's gaze into a Medusa-like murderous stone. He even showed his rotten teeth behind his cold, cracked lips. Hearing that word, even from the people at the Wish House Orphanage who abused him, filled him with cosmic rage. With amazing restraint, however, Walter did not smash Henry's computer equipment over his head in a fit of rage. Instead, he gave Henry a final warning.

"You better not call me that again." Walter Sullivan said. "I came here to tell you I want you and your stupid bitch to go to that stupid city and kill the stupid Receiver of Assumption!"

"Why are… you telling me this?" Henry asked as his nose began to bleed from the pressure of Walter's spiritual presence.

Walter leaned down on one knee, his stinking body nauseatingly close to Henry. "Because I hate you, that's why. Do you know how hard I had worked on this? Twenty-four years of my mortal life, I was forced to watch people come and go as they pleased in my sleeping Mother. I bided my time, I studied the teachings to the point of exhaustion, and I swallowed all my pride during humiliating abuse. I vowed that I'd wake Mother up again and live in the comfort of her sacred womb from all of you! For seven years, I carefully picked those victims as my sacraments to Her. Do you know how difficult and painful it is to crucify yourself? My life has _always_ been pain. It took me _seven days_ to die on that. But I did it with a smile on my face because I was going to get to meet my Mother for the first time so I could tell her how much I've always loved her…"

Walter's cold, dead fist then clenched. "…Then _you_ came and ruined everything I had worked so hard for! All of my sacraments, my victims, have now abandoned me and my Mother is still in her coma. I don't know how, but I have somehow ended up cursing myself by selecting you as the Receiver of Wisdom. So in return, I will curse both you and your neighbor by haunting you both until you die! But before I can do that, you are going to have to find the Receiver of Assumption in Raccoon City! Find him! Scar him! Break him! Smash him! Erase him! Kill him! Because if _his_ mother wakes up, then _mine_ never will!"

Walter raised up from his kneeling position, and then was joined by his younger self who quietly jumped up from the bench and ran over to his older self's side to hold his hand. Adult Walter continued to speak. "A couple lives there now, in Room 302. I'll be delivering their _eviction notice_ when the time comes. But know this! I _will_ perform the 21 Sacraments again. I will select more people to share in the honor of living with my Mother in _my world. _But your number, Henry Townshend, will _always_ be '21121.' Just as Eileen Galvin-Townshend will always be '20121.' I am going to brand both of you. You will never be able to hide from me. You will always be the Receiver of Wisdom in the end…"

Walter and the child turned to leave, but Walter made one last statement. "Suffer in Raccoon City to your heart's discontent. But if you die, I'll make Eileen's suffering even more legendary."

Henry now finally noticed a large hole similar to the one his old apartment bathroom had, and it at some point appeared on the far wall towards the bench during their much one-sided conversation. Walter and the child walked toward it with their business concluded. The boy finally looked up at his future self and asked, "I'm tired! When do I get to see Mommy?"

"Soon, Walter." Sullivan replied to his child-self. "We're gonna see Mommy again _real_ soon…"

The two ghost halves of the man, Walter Sullivan, disappeared into the hole, and the hole disappeared with them. Henry rested on the hardwood floor, clutching his pounding chest. The migraine mercifully vanished and he could breath fresh air again. Henry pulled himself off the floor and tried to quickly get his bearings. Once he was of level mind, he rushed through the drawers of his desk for the keys to his metal locker where he kept everything he had saved from his last counter with Walter Sullivan all those years ago. After finding the keys, he raced to the locker across the corner of the office-basement and fumbled it unlocked. He swung open the doors and gazed at his inventory which were now going to be his and his wife's saviors in this nightmare. It was now time to prepare for war. Henry reached inside, and the first relic he pulled from its once locked storage coffin was the last Sword of Obedience.

* * *

><p><em><strong>Author's Note<strong>__**: Alex Shepherd is now the confirmed partner of Henry Townshend. And a returning Walter Sullivan has come to the conclusion that Raccoon City may be someone else's "Mother." Well, that seems to explain everything completely, right? No. There's a lot more evil forces at work inside the city that don't stop there. Sadly, our protagonists will learn that just when they think they have all the answers, this "new" Raccoon City will change all the questions.**_


	7. Chapter 6: The Two Survivors

_**Author's Disclaimer**__**: All referenced characters, monsters, and locations are copyrighted properties of both Capcom and Konami and this is a respectfully passionate fan work of both their franchises. **__**WARNING**__**: This game story contains scenes of explicit violence, gore and disturbing verbal imagery which may be considered cruel. Parental discretion is advised.**_

* * *

><p><strong>~<span>Chapter<span>**** 06: The Two Survivors~**

Dr. Briny Shirker was driving home from her shift at the Harvardville Hospital on the night Raccoon City's return was being reported worldwide. She spent some time with her staff that day in their lounge watching the news in which everyone was crowded around the television in a silent mob. All regular programming had stopped and even into the night still so. While she was driving her liquid blue 2006 BMW 330i, she kept the radio on high volume, still possessed by the return of this once dead city that she was all too familiar with.

Briny Shirker was one of the many survivors of the original Raccoon City outbreak. For years, she had nightmares of how she lost her family to the virus. She had come a long way from then. Now, at 26, she was a Chief of Diagnostic Medicine with short, sandy blonde hair at the Harvardville Hospital in the eastern American city of Harvardville. A city, too, that dealt with the same virus back in the 2005 Harvardville Airport Incident. That, too, still bothered her to this day where it was too close to home. She turned off onto her street located on a beautiful upper-class flatland suburb that was located near the city's local golf grounds. She pulled into the driveway of her lovely two-story house where she was neighbors with another U.S. Secret Service Agent whom Leon Kennedy knew, named Frank Costner. Agent Costner along with another neighbor who lived opposite on the left side, Agent Mikael Salander, had been assigned by the Secret Service to live as her neighbors as part of the federal protection program that Dr. Shirker participated in due to her past connections with top level Umbrella staff.

Her life had since been much better. The government had paid for everything, from her education to her housing and utilities. Normalcy was a privilege she never had, even now. Despite her current point in life, however, she was at least content. She was a respected doctor and the normal neighbors that she knew who lived on her street were friendly to her in passing (and thankfully knew nothing of her protection program status). And she was safe. That was important.

After Dr. Shirker entered her home, she quickly discarded her black business overcoat on the coat rack by the door and immediately headed to her den, which was exactly what you would imagine a doctor to have. She grabbed her television remote that was on the glass rectangular coffee table and turned on the television; still the same Raccoon City coverage with no further explanations, just speculations that were equally unbelievable. She then walked into her kitchen and was about to prepare a drink for herself when a knock came at the door. She stopped what she was doing and went to answer the it. She opened the door and before her was Agent Costner. He was a handsome unmarried man in his late twenties with short brown hair parted on the side and was dressed in a black business suit. In his hand were a bouquet of pink gladiolas. The look on his face was confident, but his brows and eyes conveyed legitimate concern.

"I thought you could use a good friend tonight." he said.

Dr. Shirker looked at the flowers and smiled with playful annoyance. She accepted them gratefully and invited him inside. The agent made his way into the living room den and sat on the white leather couch to await his host whom he was a bodyguard for when she went on any out of town trips. The doctor returned back to the kitchen and poured two wine glasses of strawberry Enchante.

"For once, I think your right Frank." she said. "Thank you for the flowers, by the way. Want a drink? I was making one anyway. I'm not dealing with this sober tonight."

"You're welcome, Briny." replied Frank as he removed his dress coat. "I figured you would feel that way. And yes, I would like one."

Briny returned with the drinks and sat with him on the couch. Both of them watched the television quietly for a few minutes when Frank finally broke the silence. "I've never been to Raccoon City." he said. "This is my first time really seeing it at great length, besides the outbreak pictures. Can't imagine how you feel seeing it, though. I thought I'd come over when you got off work to keep you company while Mikael does surveillance security. I hope I'm not bothering you more than I'm paid to."

Briny somehow found the strength chuckle lightly. "I couldn't get rid of you if I tried, Frank. I'm used to my neighbors being glued to my ass."

Frank laughed. "I'll take that comment into thought the next time I invite my _neighbors_ to another barbeque."

"My feelings aren't hurt. Your cooking sucks, anyway." Briny was always like this with Frank, but not because she didn't like him. In all truthfulness, she felt as though he was the only friend she had in this city. She thought Mikael was good, too, but Frank never failed to always make her smile when she was depressed.

"Sounds to me like the wine is talking and you haven't even taken a sip yet." Frank teased.

"Oh, come on. You know I'm not _that much_ of a lightweight." Briny finally took the drink to her lips. "I should invite you to our next staff party. I could say you are my cousin or something. Who knows, maybe you might pick up one of the nurses."

"That's sounds like a plan." Frank said with a smile. "But I would much rather be happy to accompany you there just to see how wild you can get when you are finally free and by yourself."

Both of them laughed, as if briefly forgetting the horrible world that still existed out there. Once the laughter subsided, both of them looked in directions opposite from one another, now remembering that very same cruel world. Despite the smile that was still on her face, Frank turned back to her in time to see the lone tear race to her narrow chin.

"I miss them." she said. Then she looked up to meet Frank's worried eyes. "Both of them. I miss my parents so much. Not a day goes by that I don't think about them."

Frank was used to having this talk with the doctor and it always pained him each time to see her like this. "I know how you feel. When I was eighteen, I lost both of my parents in a plane crash. It's a terrible feeling that many people are lucky not to have to feel."

Briny looked down at her reflection in the glass of wine. "Thank you for relating. I know I shouldn't even feel anything for them, since they were never around. They were always busy with their tests and never with me. I was always passed around for people to watch. To be honest, there were times I hated them so much for it. I remembered on my 12th birthday I wished they would just disappear and never come back…"

Briny then pulled her stare from the wine to the television. The news report was now relooping footage of the 1998 outbreak. "I finally got my wish that day."

Frank took in a deep breath. "I know that being here has never been easy-"

"It hasn't." she interrupted, staring at her wine glass again. The interruption, however, was not intended to be rude.

Frank nodded, and after struggling hard to find something, anything, to bring the woman next to him away from her problems, he decided to share a story with her. One that he wanted to save for later, but decided now was the time. He wanted her to finally hear this. "You wanna hear a story?"

Briny nodded. "Sure. I don't mind."

For months his friend and colleague, Mikael, had warned him not to do this. It would be crossing a very strict boundary within the confines of his duty as a Secret Service agent in charge of someone's protection. But he decided that everything would have been for nothing if he stayed silent forever. He was hesitant to tell it at first, but if that was what it would take for her to be released away from her past's curse even for a moment, he would risk losing her trust and maybe his career to do it. Frank brought the glass to his mouth and drained it of it's liquid courage.

Then Frank spoke. "Let me tell you a story about a young boy. This young boy lived on this very same street, and his neighbors _hated_ him. This boy, was the meanest, most obnoxious brat that was born. I mean this kid was a real hellraiser. Dennis the Menace had nothing on him. This kid would put cherry bombs in neighbors' mail boxes, light bags of dog shit on their front door steps, and he would even steal from convenient stores. His grades were always poor, too, which strange enough bothered his overly strict parents even more than his other antics. They, too, were very important people who had very important jobs. And they were always preoccupied with other people other than him because they were US Secret Service agents too."

Briny's eyes began to open a little more than they already were; her head also lifting slightly from the gaze at her drink. Frank continued his story, still looking at his hands with the fingers cross-hatched with one another. "Everything this boy did was just so his parents could know he existed. Then one day, his family got a new neighbor. The neighbors were a couple who was unable to bear children through conception, so through an arrangement in the federal protection program, they adopted a girl around his age who survived a traumatic experience."

Briny turned and stared in total shock at what she was hearing. Frank still continued. "The boy had no other kids in his neighborhood he could be friends with because their parents barred them from the boy as playmates. Because this girl was new, he really wanted to be her friend and feared that she would hate him too. So he stopped the pranks. His grades at school got better. He begged his parents for chores to gain their admiration. He even wrote individual letters of apology to all the neighbors he had offended with his antics, in which his parents were pleasantly surprised and told the boy they were proud of him doing it. After a month, the parents told him as a reward he could have anything he wanted for his improvement. The boy asked if he could play with the girl next door."

Briny looked away, back to her wine glass. Without thinking, she asked, "…And what did the parents say to the boy?"

"They said no." Frank replied. "Distraught that all of his hard work was for nothing, the boy asked his parents why? His mom and dad explained to him that their job was to hide people who the bad guys were trying to find. They explained that because this girl was supposed to have a new life, that also involved that she can't have new friends either. They then added that only the grownups who worked for the government was allowed to see her and it was for her own safety. The boy climbed up the stairs to his bedroom in defeat. But the next morning, he woke up with a new goal. He continued studying so he could maintain his high grades. He did chores and summer jobs for all the neighbors that once despised him. Going through his teens he became an example to the new kids that started to move into the neighborhood. These kids befriended him and followed him on to college. But despite having friends now, he never forgot about that girl that still lived next to him. After his parents' death, his goal was now to follow in their footsteps and become a Secret Service agent too. That way, he could finally tell her how he had felt all those years before."

Briny finally decided to bite the bait and ask him; still nervous and overwhelmed. "Did this _boy_ finally become a Secret Service agent?"

After hesitating, Frank answered her question. "Yes, he did. Because he was the son of two previous agents and already lived in the same house, he was by a chance of luck placed in the same federal protection program that his parents where in. He couldn't be happier, because now this girl was a beautiful woman. But it wasn't until the day he finally knocked on her door to introduce himself as the new agent and replacement bodyguard, that he finally realized the sad truth of his situation. He realized that this girl has spent all of her life in everyone else's eyes. He realized that it was not his place to offer her his friendship, because what she needed was his protection. So finally, the agent decided to say nothing. And he's been guarding her ever since."

Still looking away from him, her hair hiding her eyes, she gently slid a hand over his. "…Would this girl have known this boy?"

Now realizing what he had done, despite wishing he could stay like this forever, he gently recoiled his hand away from hers. "…No."

Both were silent for a very long time, not even able to look one another in the eye. Frank now hated himself for being so weak that he told her the truth. But he couldn't stand it anymore. The truth was that Frank had been in love with her ever since he had first seen her. It killed him to have seen her everyday through his windows growing up knowing there was nothing he could do to gain her attention. This was the only way he could relate to her about how it felt to be isolated so maybe she could feel better. And he did that by crossing a line that was forbidden to cross between an agent and a protectee. Now he felt he had ruined everything, now that he was over the years finally beginning to befriend her. A friendship he would have at least been content with. And this awkward silence would have lasted forever had the power not suddenly shut off in the house.

In the darkness, Frank could hear the startled scream of Dr. Shirker. He called out to her in a panic. "Dr. Shirker, are you still there?"

"_Omigodomigod,_ yes I'm here!" she whispered, terrified. This was the moment she had been dreading her whole life.

"Shit!" Frank exclaimed. The hallway lights were the only lights in the house that came back on, due to being on their own generator along with the few surveillance cameras in the house. With the house now slightly illuminated, he pulled out his hand radio and called out to the current surveillance agent. "Agent Salander, do you read? Give me status on what's going on with the electric?"

"_Copy you."_ Mikael replied. _"I just noticed that on the cameras. I just looked into it and no one knows anything about any lightning storms or major power outages in the neighborhood. I'm looking at the outside cameras now and all other house lights and street lamps are still functioning. We just went through a house inspection last month, so I doubt that's due to a breaker-damn it…!"_

"Agent Salander, what just happened! Over!" Frank called.

"_Copy, you guys aren't going to like this. All our surveillance video is dead! Every screen is white noise! We're either being jammed or someone's shutting us off! Go ahead and get Dr. Shirker to the panic room until we've done a sweep of the property and neighborhood. All agents have been notified and they're covering the grounds now. Over and out!"_

"Roger that!" Frank pulled out his Heckler & Koch VP70 handgun from the holster strap under his left arm and made a quick inspection of his magazine. Then he brought his attention back to the panic-stricken Dr. Shirker. "Okay Briny, I'm going to escort you to the panic room in your home office. You are to stay there and arm yourself with the weapons stored there while we do a check on the premises. It's safe to bet we're going to have trouble tonight."

"Costner, come stay with me in the panic room!" Briny pleaded. "There's enough secret service agents on this block to take out whoever it is that's after me. Let them do it! I don't want to be alone in there!"

"Negative." Frank regrettably replied, wanting to stay with her as long as he could. "I need to protect this house from outside your hiding spot. I'm gonna check all the rooms and when I'm done I promise I'll stand guard in your office until it's safe."

"Goddamn it, please!" Briny snapped. Then whimpered. "Please Frank… I don't want you to leave me alone."

"I know your scared, Briny, but you're going to have to do what we tell you on this! Now follow me and I'll escort you to safety before it's too late!"

Their argument was cut violently short when two figures crashed though the front living room window; knocking over the flat screen television and filling the house with Briny's shrieks of terror. An unknown assailant had flew a double-knee strike into an agent from outside he had been fighting and once they crash landed into Dr. Shirker's living room floor, the attacker grabbed the bloody agent by his hair and slashed his throat with a Mark V Advanced Tactical Fighter knife.

There was just only enough time before the next assault to see that the assailant was dressed in strange, brown baggy clothes tucked into combat boots with tactical utility belts wrapped over his waist and left shoulder. Besides the TMP sub-machine gun strapped around him, the two most startling features of this killer's attire where the large scythe weapon strapped to his back and the brown hood that draped over his frightening white gasmask with two red glaring goggles.

"Get going, now!" Frank shouted at Briny as she escaped towards the kitchen. Frank fired his gun at the attacker, who had already rolled off his last victim; dodging the gunfire. Immediately on his feet, the attacker sprang towards Frank as he attempted to adjust his aim. The intruder then launched into a kick that struck Frank's hands; knocking the gun out of his hand and nearly breaking them in the process. Frank tried to swing with a haymaker, but the intruder caught him with both arms and countered with a strong kick into Frank's right shin. Dropping Frank to one knee, the masked intruder rolled over Frank's back while catching his neck in his left arm and once landing on the other end, used all of his strength to flip Frank's body face-first smashing into the glass coffee table.

The very moment the intruder rose to his feet, a bullet alerted him by missing his head only by inches. He turned to the direction of the shot and saw his target, Dr. Shirker, shakily gripping a small concealable handgun with fear in her eyes. With her position given away, the masked man sprinted towards the kitchen after the doctor as she wildly shot at her assailant without positive results. Just as the intruder smacked the gun from Dr. Shirker's hand, he was then pulling her hair in his direction when he felt a powerful arm from behind wrap under his gasmask around his neck. The bloody man from behind, Frank, rammed the intruder's head into two wooden cabinets; shattering them both. The killer escaped from Frank's weakened grasp and reversed it into a sleeper hold, bringing Frank back to his knees and struggling for air. Briny, in an attempt to save Frank's life, grabbed a nearby steel bar stool and crashed it unto the intruder's back. It stunned him enough to release his grip on Frank, but he immediately responded by grabbing Frank by the hair and turning to Briny's direction. He then grabbed the doctor by her shirt and drived Frank's forehead into hers, sending her crashing to the floor and momentarily dazed while clutching her head in pain. Finally, the attacker drove his knife into Frank's abdomen and forcefully yanked his head back; slamming him backwards unto the floor hard.

"Oh god, Frank!" screamed Briny through her terrified tears.

"RUN!" wailed Frank as he clutched his bleeding wound and lay on the floor, unable to follow.

Briny raced out of the kitchen towards the hallway beyond where the stairs lay ahead. It was too late now to go to the panic room, which was hidden in the office that was the second door to the right up the hall. The masked intruder, who looked like death with the scythe dancing back and fourth on his shaking back, was too close on her heels to ditch into another room. So Dr. Shirker, at this point, was running for the sake of running. She had managed to stomp up three steps until the black and white leather gloves gripped her ankle and yanked her down. She franticly screamed and drove the short heels of her business shoes into the mask, at one point cracking the right goggle of the mask. Finally, the assailant released his grip and she was free again. She scaled the stairs which wrapped around to another set that went to the second floor hallway. Upon reaching the top she raced towards the end of the hallway where the window was located at the end. She knew she had no choice but to throw herself out it. She would rather choose death by her own hands trying to escape than be caught by someone she knew in her heart was from Umbrella. While on her way to the window, she quickly yanked away a large piece of pottery that was on a small table to the side and hurled it towards the window as she continued to run. By the time the window had shattered, she hurled herself out headfirst and rolled off the roof unto the ground.

She landed awkwardly on her feet and she knew immediately that she sprained her right knee in the fall. Struggling to her feet and grabbing her knee, she limped as fast as she could out of her yard. Seeing the bodies of agents scattered about, she screamed to the top of her lungs for someone to help her, and was met only with her own echoes in the night wind. She hurried next door to Agent Mikael Salander's house and upon reaching the front door, threw it open and hurried inside. The lights were thankfully on in this house, so she rushed towards the garage door through the kitchen to reach Mikael's surveillance system to her house. She swung open the door and threw herself towards the leather chair where she saw him sitting in front of the multiple blank monitors. She swung him around, and screamed in horror at seeing a large combat knife buried into Mikael's now grotesque face. Knowing there was now nowhere to run, she pulled the knife from the face of Mikael's bloody corpse and turned to face the masked intruder who patiently stood at the kitchen garage doorway watching her. As she tried to back away as the masked man slowly approached, she tripped backwards over Mikael's exposed feet and fell to the floor. She still clutched the knife with both hands and aimed it's tip in his direction as if it were going to save her from him. He finally stopped a foot in front of her and stood there watching over her silently. That was until the masked killer's radio called out to him.

"_HUNK, what is your status on the mission?"_ said the voice, who revealed the masked man to be non-other than Umbrella's most deadly Security Service commando.

"Secondary objective to neutralize all federal agents on premise guarding the target has been achieved, sir."

"_And of your primary objective…?"_ asked the voice again.

"_Primary objective of capturing the target alive has also been successful, sir. Sherry Birkin is now in my custody."_

_Oh god, _the terrified doctor thought to herself, _they finally found me!_

"_Excellent work, HUNK." _the voice congratulated. _"Return back with the prisoner. Afterwards, I will personally instruct you of your next mission."_

"Orders received and understood, sir." replied HUNK. "Over and out."

From the doctor's house, a bleeding Frank still laid on the kitchen floor. Before he went unconscious, he could clearly hear Sherry Birkin, Briny's real name, screaming for help. Next, he heard what sounded like the wails of war sirens all around him. Then he saw the lights go off again. And from there, he only saw darkness until he finally lost consciousness.

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><p><em><strong>Author's Note<strong>__**: I am so sorry about the hiatus of no chapters. I would've already had 4 typed and uploaded had it not been for me being busy with work on my street. That said, as you've probably noticed, Briny Shirker is an anagram for Sherry Birkin. I thought that seeing as she is under government protection, she would most likely have a false name to go with it. I also wanted to introduce her by introducing HUNK (the Boba Fett of Resident Evil) in this chapter too. I felt the chapter could have been better because I only wrote Frank Costner's character and his "story about a boy" to really lengthen it out enough. I may use him later, but I haven't fully decided on it yet. Also, stay tuned because I still have one more RE and one more SH protagonist to introduce to this story. I promise to have more as soon as I'm able…**_


	8. Chapter 7: We Are Omega

_**Author's Disclaimer**__**: All referenced characters, monsters, and locations are copyrighted properties of both Capcom and Konami and this is a respectfully passionate fan work of both their franchises. **__**WARNING**__**: This game story contains scenes of explicit violence, gore and disturbing verbal imagery which may be considered cruel. Parental discretion is advised.**_

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><p><strong>~<span>Chapter<span>**** 07: We Are Omega~**

By now, it was October 4th, thirty minutes into the afternoon. Leon had received a phone call from a fellow agent in Harvardville that his long time friend and fellow survivor, Sherry Birkin, had been kidnapped by an unknown person who killed almost all of the agents searching the premises. The only surviving agent, Frank Costner, had explained to other investigating agents at the Harvardville Hospital that to his knowledge, only one man was responsible for the assault. He described the attacker both to the other agents as well as to Leon whom after he was notified of the situation, called Frank at the hospital to assure him he did the best he could and it wasn't his fault. Leon was the one that had given him a recommendation for that position in the federal protection program in Harvardville due to his knowledge of the surroundings as well as of his neighbor. Despite Leon's encouraging words, he knew from Frank's tone that his grief from failing was inconsolable.

After the call, Leon thought more about the attacker's identity and affiliation. He was almost certain it was Umbrella finally coming after her, and the assailant's fighting ability that was explained to him reminded him of another operative he had the misfortune of fighting against in the past. But what filled him with some doubt in this was the coincidence of Raccoon City's reappearance following Sherry's disappearance. Then he felt this wasn't a coincidence. Umbrella _is_ involved in some way or another, he knew. His gut instinct was telling him she was taken there. He also knew that it was a matter of time until Sherry's best friend of years, Claire Redfield, would learn of the disappearance and come to the same conclusion Leon was thinking. Especially now the world knew of the ghost city returning. He wondered if he would have a chance talking her out of going there to find her? He decided that after he met the Special Operations Agents joining the team and sit through with their briefing, he would finally call Claire and talk to her about the situation.

As promised before, Leon and Hunnigan lead Henry, Eileen, and now with them Alex Shepherd via vehicles from their hotels and after six hours on the road, they made it to their destination to Fort Arklay. It was located thirty-four miles from Raccoon City in a flat thicket of woods. Despite its various army vehicles and choppers, the location looked actually serene for the most part. Lines of orchards encircled the grounds in a square formation. At it's center were four buildings; 3 smaller bricked facilities that varied from one to two story floors, and in the back the impressive four story dormitory that wrapped around in an upside-down "U" in the back. Also scattered around the grounds were various outdoor barracks, hangars, and depots.

Even though both Henry and Eileen were in awe of the property and watching the various solders running about normally, their nerves had been on edge all day. Especially Henry. Despite Walter's threats, Henry had still not told Eileen what happened the night before in the basement. He knew it wouldn't help the situation any more and would only cause Eileen to fret to the point of either trying to convince him to not go or fight to go with him. The less she knew for now, the better.

Leon and Hunnigan's vehicle approached first to the main gate guarded by two MPs. After the proper clearances, both vehicles passed through with no hassle except for stares from both men at Henry's Cadillac ambulance. Both parked their vehicles into the visitation parking and did not walk far until they were greeted by a relieved Col. Michaels.

"Agents Kennedy and Hunnigan," said the colonel with handshakes to both agents. "glad you could make it before the Apocalypse. Are these your experts?"

Leon and Hunnigan both stood aside to let the colonel pass to meet them. "Yes, sir." replied Leon. "The two gentlemen are going to accompany us into Raccoon City while the other stays with Hunnigan to offer as much contact support as she can."

"Well then." began the Colonel as he greeted and introduced himself, whom everyone else introduced themselves in return.

"Hello sir, my name is Henry Townshend. I study parapsychology and the occult."

"Hi! My name is Eileen. I'm his wife and I do the same, though my man's the main expert."

"Pleasure to meet you sir." said Alex with a strong handshake grip. "My name is Alex Shepherd. My father was retired Colonel Adam Shepherd who was once stationed at Fort Bragg. It's an honor serving all of you on this mission."

"I can tell you're the son of a marine, Alex." Col. Michaels said with only the pride a fellow soldier could show when they wanted to. "I'm certain all of you will prove to be great choices in this mission if Kennedy and Hunnigan chose you."

"Thank you." replied Alex with a salute.

Alex Shepherd was a tall and well-built man in his mid-twenties with short dark brown hair and a strong face that held grayish brown eyes. He was wearing a plain black shirt with denim jeans and work boots with a sand-yellow army jacket that had belonged to his late father. When Henry had called him to do the job for the government, he had turned it down at first, but then thought of his current situation at the moment and decided that nothing was going to get any better for him and he needed to take his mind off personal problems.

His childhood friend and now girlfriend, Elle Holloway, did not accompany them on this trip due to a relationship spat they had been having recently as well as not being notified of the mission in person. Alex only left behind a letter of an explanation and a request not to follow. Despite the romantic relationship that formed between them during the experiences they shared together in Shepherd's Glen, things had changed overtime between them. To Elle, she felt as though Alex was still distant from having trouble dealing with the truth about his brother as well as the founding families of the town they once belonged to. He had developed deep trust issues and as a result, she questioned if whether or not a deeper commitment from him was possible. She loved him so much and knew he was the only person left from her past life in Shepherd's Glen she could now trust where she had the same trust issues herself, but the constant blow-ups from Alex was beginning to wear on her. So the week before, Elle and Alex decided to spend some time apart for a few weeks to see if things could improve between them.

Soon the group found themselves sitting in an empty mission briefing room with around 60 metal folding chairs that faced a small stage with a large screen pulled down to be prepared for the mission scans to be displayed. Eileen was allowed to see the briefing so she would feel more comfortable knowing what the plan would entail. All of them sat in the front row with the exception of the colonel who said he would return with the remaining team now assigned to the mission. The colonel left the room and the group talked amongst one another. Leon could feel the uneasy nerves and tension in the room amongst the ones already invited, so he decided to speak first.

"I've done this sort of thing many a time." he began. "It can feel as though you're coming to your own funeral, but after awhile you start to feel like your in school."

"Don't worry, I'm good." Alex lied. "Henry, how 'bout you?"

"I'd be lying if I said I didn't feel like throwing my guts up." Henry nervously laughed. "I couldn't get an ounce of sleep last night."

"It's understandable." Leon said. "You never forget your demons the first time you face them. I remembered never wanting to deal with another outbreak for as long as I lived. So it's my understanding that both of you have fought monsters in the past. What was the situation behind those?"

Alex and Henry both looked at one another as if to decide who would go first. Henry nodded to Alex that he would be the one to begin. Henry explained, "Well, like you may already know, me and Eileen were survivors of the 2003 Walter Sullivan murders. Walter Sullivan was raised in this orphanage called Wish House that was ran by this crazy cult called 'The Order.' They worship an evil deity and perform pagan rituals to appease it. Every person I've ever interviewed who's dealt with them say that monsters are never far behind them. From what I know and have experienced, these things are conjured and not created by any man-made experiments like the ones Umbrella did. They look so surreal and hellish looking. Sometimes they could be ghosts, too. These creatures are said to be part of an 'Otherworld' that the Order are always connected to."

"A cult, huh?" Leon inquired. "I've been down that road myself with a Spanish cult called the Los Illuminados who dealt in international bio-terrorism."

"I remember that." Henry said. "They had kidnapped President Graham's daughter, Ashley, I believe?"

"That's correct." Leon said. "Let me tell you, terrorists with political ideologies of their own are bad enough, but a religious fanatic will do anything to meet their goals ends. Tell me more."

Henry nodded. "So this kid, Walter, grew up in the orphanage after he was abandoned in my old apartment years before I was born. As hard as it sounds to believe, he thought the room was his mother and became so obsessed with it he used the church's teachings to try to bring it to life. When my apartment was haunted, I could go to his Otherworlds where his ghost would reside in until he would murder who ever it was he was after. Even his victims became ghosts and tried to kill us."

After Leon took a moment to take in everything he heard, he then looked at Alex. "How about you, Alex? Was it the same for you?"

Alex looked around the room other than directly at the others when he spoke. "Me and my girlfriend; our 'families' were involved in the cult and tried to sacrifice us too. Like Henry said, we saw a lot of crazy shit out there. Both in our hometown of Shepherd's Glen _and_ Silent Hill."

"Silent Hill?" asked Hunnigan, remembering the rumors, she too, had heard of that place.

"That's the old mining tourist town with Lakeside Amusement Park, right?" asked Leon. "I remember always wanting to go there as a kid to meet Robbie the Rabbit."

Alex laughed lightly, which surprised the room a little. "My brother loved that rabbit." he said, almost forgetting for a moment the danger he was hours away from facing. Then he went silent again.

"Do you think we're going to be facing anything like that in Raccoon City." Leon asked.

Henry remembered Walter's haunting words well. "I'm very certain were going to face something terrible in that city. But I think given as much experience everyone in this room has in dealing with monsters on both scientific and paranormal scales, I think all of us together will do much better in surviving and finding out what we need to and report back, right?"

"That's right." Alex said, feeling slightly better after his brother's favorite toy was mentioned. "All of us are survivors of horror. From virus monsters to demons from Hell. I don't know about any of you, but I'm ready to kick ass and chew bubblegum again. How bout you Henry?"

Henry thought for a moment, and then with a surge of confidence stood up and nodded in agreement. "You got it. Last time I found myself forced into a situation that I almost wasn't strong enough for. But now through the courage of my friends and my wife, I'm gonna fight these things until I can't fight any longer. I never want that city to do to anyone what was done to us."

Eileen also spoke. "I know you aren't going to let me go with him, but I'm gonna be outside that city until the mission is over and you come back. And you _are_ coming back, even if I have to go in and get you myself."

Henry and Eileen smiled weakly, but confidently at one another. Then Hunnigan responded. "You won't be alone, Eileen. We'll both stay by the city in hopes of maintaining communications with them while they're inside."

"Thanks Hunnigan." Eileen said.

"Don't mention it." Hunnigan said with a smile. "Us girls got to stick together and support our boys while they fight."

"You won't be the only girls to help." came a voice from the door entrance leading to the hall.

Everyone turned and Leon recognized immediately that it was the ponytailed brunette, Claire Redfield, dressed in a red short sleeve shirt with a short midriff which was covered by a white ballistic vest, short red cargo shorts supported with a first aid utility pouch, brown combat boots and red fingerless gloves. The ballistic vest was armed with a tactical knife sheathed near the left shoulder strap and had the Terra Save logo on the front as well as the medical red cross symbol on the back. She leaned against the door with a smirk, staring particularly at Leon.

"Claire…" said Leon, not knowing were to begin first.

"Save the lecture, Leon." Claire began. "Terra Save is already at the encampment around Raccoon City to assist in aid work for any possible survivors that still may be in the city. And the paperwork has already been cleared between Terra Save and the United States Military to allow me to accompany all of you as a combat medic. I know about Sherry and I know both of us have come to the same conclusion as to where we may find her."

Leon smiled. Of course any sibling of Chris Redfield would be tough as nails and ready to raise hell. "Sure thing, Claire. Welcome aboard. Everyone, this is a friend and fellow survivor whom I fought alongside during the original Raccoon City outbreak. Everyone, this is Claire Redfield."

Everyone made their acquaintances with her to which she responded, "It's a pleasure to meet you all and I'll do my best to serve you."

Then another female voice came from the door, except this one wasn't as _kind sounding_ as Claire's. "Well now that you're all done sucking each other's dicks, I'll introduce myself despite not _needing_ an introduction…"

Leon's heart sank into his stomach. _"Oh God," _he thought to himself, _"not you!"_

Standing before them were the two Special Operations Agents assigned to this mission from the BSAA. Among them were an African American male in his late 30's with short shaven darkish gray hair and beard stubble which did not match his youthful, soft expression in his eyes and smile. He was wearing all black combat gear with the exception of the dark blue shirt he wore underneath the protective vest with the North American BSAA logo on his left arm sleeve. And the source of the rude voice came from the 26 year-old Caucasian female agent with a blonde ponytail and a shrewd expression on her face that displayed intense blue eyes. She wore blue cargos tucked into combat boots with utility suspenders wrapped over a white shirt with the same logo.

With an aura of arrogance about her, she continued. "I'm BSAA Omega's B&E specialist, Agent Laura Breckenridge."

After the group had been graced with her introduction, the male agent then spoke while crossing his arms and trying not to be embarrassed. "You have to excuse my partner for her little _entrance_. Our little _child prodigy_ here graduated from the University of Pleasant River at the age of 14 with a degree in chemistry, so she's been known to act like this with people she meets for the first time. By the way, my name is Agent Darrell Karasu Taylor, but my comrades call me 'D.K..' It's a pleasure to finally meet all of you."

This was the first time Leon had met Agent D.K. Taylor, but he already knew Laura from a previous mission he did in Hazard, Kentucky. Leon had once felt that Ashley Graham was the most hatefully obnoxious person he ever had to endure a mission with. Then he met Laura, and experienced a new level of loathing he wasn't aware would be possible. She was a fiery tempered woman with a strong sense of pride that always craved attention for her accomplishments. She also had a reputation among her peers on the Omega Team as being the most reckless agent among them, which earned her the nickname, "Nine Lives." And what made this worse was she was absolutely infatuated with Leon.

Claire threw up her hands in polite protest with a forced smile. "Heheh, pleasure's all ours!"

Despite being annoyed by D.K.'s explanation of her attitude, Laura still played it off with a shrug. "What can I say? I just _can't_ pretend I'm not awesome!"

Then Laura saw Leon who tried in vain to avoid eye contact with her. A bigger Cheshire smile stretched across her face. "Oh hey, Leon!" she said gaily. "I heard that you were assigned by the Secret Service on this mission. What a coincidence that we're working together again, huh? I guess now this team's got some real flare now that the talent has shown up."

Leon smiled, also forced. "Yeah, good to see you, too."

Then Col. Michaels returned back to the briefing room. "I see that everyone so far has been acquainted with one another."

"So far?" Alex asked.

Then it hit Leon who was left to join them. He felt so stupid that through all the drama in the past few days he had completely forgotten about _her._ Col. Michaels then asked him to follow him out the room to accept full custody of the _prisoner_ from the prison guards and FBI agents that surrounded her. He followed and in their center was a heavily chained Ada Wong in a bright orange prison jumpsuit. Her face was exactly as he had remembered it to be, with her small cheek bones he had relished in kissing, her seductive Asian brown eyes he loved stealing a stare into, and the shabby short raven hair that he had once ran his fingers through. And that smart ass smirk of hers that always set him on fire. Once the formalities were traded among the officials, Leon swore an oath before them that he would be fully responsible for the prisoner's performance during the mission and that any deviancy from that mission would be punishable by execution of the prisoner. The guards then unchained her and left the building.

"Well, now that we are all finally here, let's begin the mission briefing. I will be in the room with the others waiting for the both of you." Col. Michaels walked back to the briefing room, leaving both of them alone for the moment in the hall.

Leon and Ada stared at one another for as long as they allowed themselves to. Their act would have to be much stronger in front of so many witnesses, they knew. Leon finally spoke, "Ada… I'd like to personally thank you for accepting the reconnaissance into Raccoon City. Just like old times…"

"Can't wait for the date to begin." Ada replied, her dirty smirk still visible even from when the guards where with them. "Let's paint the town _red._"

* * *

><p><em><strong>Author's Note<strong>__**: Now all the main characters have been assembled in this chapter! I know seven main characters is large for a fanfic story that is also about Silent Hill, but I promise to do my best to make it work. Also speaking of making things work, yes, THAT was the same Laura from SH2. Looking at both RE and SH timelines, it shows her and Sherry Birkin were born on the same year (they are not going to be connected in this story, however), so that would make her around the same age as well. To retain her bratty attitude from SH2, I've decided to write her as an "Asuka Langley Soryu" that is an anti-Mary Sue parody (which I'm sure I'll fail at, but I'll let you be the judge). We're finally coming close to some Raccoon City action as well as seeing who our main antagonists are… **_


	9. Chapter 8: Every City Is A Room

_**Author's Disclaimer**__**: All referenced characters, monsters, and locations are copyrighted properties of both Capcom and Konami and this is a respectfully passionate fan work of both their franchises. **__**WARNING**__**: This game story contains scenes of explicit violence, gore and disturbing verbal imagery which may be considered cruel. Parental discretion is advised.**_

* * *

><p><strong>~<span>Chapter<span>**** 08: Every City Is A Room~**

"Ladies and gentleman," began Col. Michaels as the lights in the briefing room dimmed and the projector illuminated the screen behind him. "all of you have been selected to partake in a reconnaissance mission into Raccoon City, which as you can see, has mysteriously reappeared into existence. As all of you may remember, back in September 22nd of 1998, a major outbreak occurred within Raccoon City due to the G-Virus created by an Umbrella virologist named William Birkin which nearly destroyed it's population."

A slideshow of pictures which included gruesome images of horrifying violence and cannibalism came and went during the discussion. Now and again during the slides, Eileen would grip Henry's arm or cover her mouth and look away. The others, however, were by now used the macabre imagery on the projector and silently paid close attention to both the visuals and Col. Michaels. Laura yawned which gained the ire of some of the people in the room, but the briefing went on none the less.

Col. Michaels continued. "For nine days, undead and mutated creatures roamed the streets creating more chaos by spreading the virus deeper into it. To contain the threat of the virus spreading outside the city, the Bacillus Terminate Operation was ordered for sterilization of the city and on the dawn of October 1st, the entire city was obliterated via a nuclear missile being launched into it's center. Nothing remained of it except for a crater with small levels of the virus still existing."

Then slides of the Ground Zero facility displayed, and the colonel continued. "Built shortly after was the Ground Zero facility, originally by Umbrella then after the collapse of the company, was transferred into the United States government control. The facility's purpose was to study the remaining traces of the virus, however, earlier in the year of 2010, secret documentation dating from Umbrella's control of the facility was discovered making reference to something called 'the Dirac Project.' No further information was found in regards to what that project even was, but the government is now willing to acknowledge that it may have had something to do with an incident later that year in which on the anniversary of Raccoon City's destruction…"

Then what Henry referred to as a 'Dirac hole' appeared on the slide. The colonel continued again. "…_this_ replaced the Ground Zero facility as well as the rest of the former city's grounds. For a year, this phenomenon was unexplainable as the hole was immeasurable in it's depth. However, the expert that our Secret Service Agents, Kennedy and Hunnigan, have now recruited has theorized that the Dirac Project may have been an inter dimensional experiment and this massive hole was the result of that. Am I correct in quoting you, Mr. Henry Townshend?"

Henry nervously stood up to answer. "Y-yes sir, you're correct in saying that. I think at some point they accidentally created an _event horizon_ when they may have attempted to continue the experiment after possibly finding the true remnants of the project. I believe that the people that were in that facility may still be alive, though I'm sure it's hard to believe that. And I think somehow that city was brought back in it's place, and that is where they may be."

"I'm glad you said that, Mr. Townshend." said Col. Michaels with a polite nod. "Because this now brings us to the mission at hand."

All the bizarre imagery finally disappeared on the slides and was replaced by a map of Raccoon City. "The mission in which most of you has chosen to accept, is primarily recon. Your Primary Objective is to explore Raccoon City in which you will observe, take pictures, take samples, and find any non hostile inhabitants such as survivors of the Ground Zero facility as well as townspeople that may be alive and would be considered knowledgeable of the city in it's current state. Surviving inhabitants are unlikely, but searching for them is still required. Your Secondary Objective is to find anything additional pertaining to the Dirac Project and return with it so we may do a full investigation into the experiment as well as the nature of the city's impossible existence. Everything understood so far?"

"Yes sir!" everyone, including Hunnigan and Eileen, simultaneously replied.

"Very good." replied the colonel. "Here's the plan: you will be transported via military cargo truck past the Arklay Mountains border in which you will travel to what was known to be once various major hubs of civilian activity such as the City Hall, Raccoon Police Department, and any hospitals or churches you may come across. If there are people still alive in that city, your chances may be better finding them there. Don't worry about getting lost, we will supply all of you with an individual map for your mission. After you have explored these areas, come back and give us your individual reports. Based on that, we will send military in to occupy the city and get it back under control. If this city has indeed come back to us, then there might be chance we can still save it."

Col. Michaels then took in a deep breath and sighed for the next part. "You will be given three days to return alive from the city. In the event none of you return, I regret to say we will have no choice but to attempt another terminate operation of the city…"

"Oh my god…" Eileen said with now glassy eyes as Henry did his best to calm her down.

"I know this may sound disheartening to hear," Col. Michaels said compassionately but sternly. "but we have already lost the first team we had sent in to investigate as well as the first round of encampment guards based around it after it's reappearance. If it is another viral outbreak, or something much worse, we cannot allow it to spread further. But we feel that three days should be sufficient enough time to make a successful search and return home quickly and safely. So please do not worry, Mrs. Townshend. I assure you that your husband is with the best of the best and will be lead by Agent Kennedy, whom you have already met. Him, along with Agent Taylor of the BSAA, Claire Redfield of Terra Save, and our soon to be _reformed_ Ada Wong, are all survivors of the Raccoon City outbreak and already know it's layout. That is why I am faithful in the success in this mission. Also, we will allow you to assist Hunnigan in communications support, though due to our previous experience, I can't guarantee communication will be kept throughout the mission. Please trust me when I say everything will be fine. We have a much better team this time around."

Eileen with great newfound emotional strength, did her best to reserve herself from a breakdown for the sake of both her husband's embarrassment and her own. The colonel continued a final time. "Now does everyone understand the contents of the mission, which all of you have chosen to accept?"

"Yes sir!" everyone responded again.

"And are there any questions?" the colonel asked.

Everyone looked at one another, then they remained silent. After waiting and observing, Col. Michaels said, "All of you will be shown to the depot where your weapons and equipment have been laid out for you. I have been notified ahead of time, Mr. Townshend, that you and your wife have already brought some special equipment with you in advance. You may return to your vehicle to retrieve these items and reunite with your team at the depot. Everyone is dismissed. I think it's time Raccoon City get's their last welcome wagon."

* * *

><p>Almost everyone took an hour to get prepared for their mission ahead. While Henry and Eileen, accompanied by a soldier, went back to their vehicle to unpack their equipment, Claire, Ada, and Alex where shown to the weaponry and armor depot to gear up. Leon, D.K., and Laura however, waited outside for them for they were equipped in advance. Leon, as almost always, wore his dark cargo pants and shirt with his trademark bomber jacket, and was armed with a Blacktail handgun and a Benelli M4 Super 90 riot gun. D.K. was armed with a Beretta 92F and Heckler &amp; Koch SL8 semi-auto rifle with scope, and Laura with a M92F handgun and a Benelli M3 riot gun. The weapons Claire chose for herself were a Matilda handgun and a PSG rifle. Ada and Alex were the only ones to change clothes; Alex now wearing a light blue short sleeve button-up with breast pockets and a black tactical belt wrapped around dark blue cargos over combat boots, and Ada, who took the longest due to her obsession with the color red, finally found a crimson shirt with ballistic vest, tight pants, high heel boots, and remaining tactical gear all the rest black. After they were dressed, Alex armed himself with a Chrome Hammer Colt M1911 handgun and an M14 Assault Rifle, and Ada with a FN Five-seveN Punisher handgun, Steyr Mannlicher TMP sub-machine gun, and to her luck, a Hookshot grappling gun. When Henry and Eileen showed up, he was dressed in a light gray cargo jumpsuit with black work boots and black elbow pads over the sleeves and also wore a brown utility belt with a black military assault tracker backpack filled with his remaining items. Visibly, Henry was armed with a M1911A1 handgun, a red handled M48 Kommando Survival Rescue hand axe, a KL609 high voltage stun gun with LED flashlight, and an oddly shaped sword-like blade with a triangular hilt sheathed under his backpack. Everyone else was additionally equipped with walkie-talkie radios, military flashlights and standard combat knives a piece, except for Henry, and D.K. who himself preferred his large MercWorx Goliath tactical blade as a melee weapon.<p>

Once everyone was finally prepared and outside the depot, then came a forest green M35 2½ ton Deuce and a Half military cargo truck with a matching overhead tarp roofing the back bed of the truck. And then, the hard goodbyes. The team stood together for the first time and looked at one another, now differently than what they did before. Everyone was now about to embark on a nightmarish adventure they wished never to relieve again, from the ones who escaped the original virus outbreak to those who survived hellish worlds. They knew fear. But for the first time, they felt a strange sense of comradery for the first time. As if this moment, as much dreaded as it was, was by fate destined to happen. And destined to bring them together to combat whatever evil lay inside the dead city. With the team were the ones not to accompany them inside the city. Hunnigan, Eileen, and the colonel.

"From here," Col. Michaels said, "we now separate. I will accompany Agent Hunnigan and Mrs. Townshend to the encampment where they will begin preparations to be your contacts during the course of your mission. As we drive through the town of Arklay, the convoy carrying Hunnigan, Eileen, and myself will branch off out of town leading on a back road south below Victory Lake. There, we will be stationed to provide you contact support, and if needed, military support. When we separate, your convoy will continue forward past the old Arklay South-West Subway Station down the Raccoon-Arklay Line. From there, decide amongst yourselves where to head first, and may God be with you."

Eileen then walked up to Henry, her smile shining more than her tears. She remembered how nerdy he acted all those years before when she first met him at South Ashfield Heights. He had changed so much since then, especially being one of the only victims to stand up to Sullivan and try to save everyone. Even herself. She still remembered how after it was all over, he was there in her hospital room with flowers in his hand. Anyone else would have spent a week recovering as far way as possible. For as long as she knew him, he always displayed unconditional compassion for everyone around him. She thought it strange at first that someone could be this nice to any stranger he would meet, and she often wondered where this trait of his personality had come from? But then she would remind herself that she wouldn't have been alive had it not been for it. She was so thankful to have him in her life. And she knew that now was the moment she could no longer be selfish about keeping him just to herself.

"You know, Henry." she began, with mock sheepishness. "I always liked a man in uniform."

"Eileen…" Henry began, but no other words could come to him other than, "I'm sorry."

Eileen smile ran for miles across her bright face. "…I'm not."

She wrapped her arms around Henry, and the two if them kissed as if tomorrow would never come again. For a moment, nothing around them existed; nor Heaven or Hell. They kissed for as long as time allowed them to. Finally, Eileen broke the kiss and ran her fingers through his shabby hair and gently gripped it along with his ears as she stared at his chest; her forehead touching his lips.

"I'll never be sorry for being your neighbor." she said, her smile still there. "I know your not going to die. Because if you do, I'll never forgive you."

Henry gently lifted her gaze back to meet his, a smirk of admiration played across his face. He said, "A city is a lot bigger than a room."

And nothing further was said. He joined his teammates, except Leon and D.K., in piling into the cargo truck, but they never took each other's eyes of one another. Henry wondered at that moment if a person's spirit could follow a person for the rest of that person's life after death. If he died, and he were allowed to follow her, he would haunt her peacefully. And then he knew the answer to his question, and that horrifying answer was Walter Sullivan. This had now become dangerous thinking, so now he concentrated everything on surviving. His duty to her was not finished yet. And as far as he knew it, it never would be.

After the original driver stepped out with a salute, D.K returned it and took his place at the wheel. Leon Kennedy then entered the passenger side of the vehicle. Everyone was now accounted for and they waited as Col. Michaels' vehicle with it's occupants to head first out of Fort Arklay and into town. Once they took the lead, D.K. drove his team behind them. The realization of his team had hit them that now there was no going back now. They drove 13 miles downtown in Arklay, then the right turn signal came on the colonel's convoy ahead. And then, they were gone.

The Omega Team was now on their own and was now preparing to pass the subway station that once connected under the road and lead into Raccoon City. Everyone felt that it was very eerie that the station itself still existed. They knew before, after the destruction, it no longer connected to anything. Now with the city coming back, they wondered if those tunnels came back too? And they felt more comfortable knowing that they didn't have to use those dark tunnels to enter the city. If something was in the city, something was down there too, they were sure. They passed it and two miles down the road, now out of the town, they finally came to the border check point surrounded by soldiers where it was under heavy military guard. All along the border were tripwire and guards every yard apart from one another along it's length.

"I wonder if this is what everyone feels like when they die and know they're about to go to Hell?" D.K. said as he turned to look at Leon. "I really fucking hate that city."

"You and me both, D.K." said Leon in response. "You and me both…"

The cargo truck came to a halt in front of the guards. One of them jogged up to the driver side window. "Are you the new crew going in?"

"Yes." replied D.K., matter-of-factly. "We are on a field trip into the city to go to the Raccoon City Zoo. These kids wanted to see the elephants and maybe tear up some shit while they check out the gift shop while they're at it."

The guard chuckled, "Fair enough. Can't say I wish I were coming with you. Good luck to you guys in there!"

"Thank you." D.K. said. "Keep everything safe on the outside."

The guard shouted for the others to make way. The soldiers nodded in response and lifted their barricades to allow the vehicle through. Once clear, the convoy drove past the guards as they place the barricades back behind them. Now laying before them was an additional 15 miles of empty highway. Beyond that was trees and mountains. And beyond that, fog shrouded buildings that towered into the heavens. Except in this city, the Omega Team would find that no angels existed here.

* * *

><p><em><strong>Author's Note<strong>__**: Sorry that it has taken me so many chapters to finally get to the "meat" of this story. I wanted to introduce all of my main characters with enough pacing to get all their appearances explained. We're doing 3 RE and 3 SH protagonists plus an original character to join them into it. Leon is the head RE character and Laura will be the head SH. I considered "another main character" from the same game for her role instead, but I feel it won't be a problem seeing as even Asuka "had a limit." I'll try to make more soon… **_


	10. Chapter 9: The Road

_**Author's Disclaimer**__**: All referenced characters, monsters, and locations are copyrighted properties of both Capcom and Konami and this is a respectfully passionate fan work of both their franchises. **__**WARNING**__**: This game story contains scenes of explicit violence, gore and disturbing verbal imagery which may be considered cruel. Parental discretion is advised.**_

* * *

><p><strong>~<span>Chapter 09: The Road<span>~**

Less than a mile up the highway, both sides of the road were thickly surrounded by pines and other autumn dying trees. The road as it slowly went on looked more and more aged and cracked, as if it had not been with proper maintenance in years. The team knew that technically, this road shouldn't exist. While there were still able to see the sky above them, they saw that the sun was blotched out by heavy rain clouds, but the forecast called for no rain. As they drove through misty forest highway towards Raccoon City, everyone in the back of the truck conversed amongst themselves. All except for Ada, who sat quietly with her arms and her legs crossed. Claire had felt sorry for Henry and his wife, despite not knowing them yet. So she felt she would get to know him first.

"So Henry, right?" Claire began. "It really is nice to meet you. I wish it was under better circumstances, however."

Henry smiled and shook his head. "It's alright. It's nice to finally meet you, Claire. I think Terra Save is a great organization. Me and my wife once talked about maybe signing up sometime for it. But recently, I've concentrated more on writing magazine articles and ghost hunting in the spare time."

"Thank you, we definitely try." Claire responded. "But still, it sounds like what you do is just as exciting none the less. Ghost hunting, huh? I've watched a lot of reality shows and documentaries about professional ghost hunters on TV. Is that the sort of thing you do?"

"Yeah, it's pretty much the same thing." Henry said. "My main paying job is being a journalist and photographer for the paranormal magazine, 'Anomalist America.'"

"Wow, really?" Claire asked, interested.

Henry nodded again. "Sometimes I'll include my personal stories and experiences in the field as well as interviews with other people involved in paranormal experiences."

"So I guess _this one_ will definitely be an article for you magazine, huh?" Claire asked.

"Heh, no." Henry replied, humored. "If I make it out of this alive, I'm writing a book."

"Well I'll certainly look forward to reading it if you do." Claire said.

"Yeah…" Henry said and then slumped back forward to stare back at the floor.

Claire then remembered and asked, "It's hard leaving her to come here, isn't it?"

Henry, still staring at the floor replied, "Yeah. But it must be harder for you guys going back, I'd imagine."

"Yeah." Claire said, now realizing how little she herself had thought about it. "When I first came to this city, I was looking for my older brother. He was in the Air Force as a pilot, but got kicked out. I heard he drifted for awhile until a good friend and former air force copilot of his got him into law enforcement. He came here and got a job with the Raccoon Police Department as a pilot and sharpshooter for their branch of S.T.A.R.S.. He and the others in his group were the first ones to try to expose Umbrella for their experiments in the T-Virus. Then when I came here, it was too late. The city was already crawling with infected. It was a living nightmare…"

"…Special Operations Agent and founding BSAA member, Chris Redfield." inserted Laura smugly. "Both of you were later that year involved in the Rockfort Island Incident with the T-Veronica virus. Then you and Leon in that Harvardville Incident six years ago."

"Y-yeah, that's right." said Claire, still not sure as to whether or not she would keep from confronting her on her lack of respect. "I see that you've done your homework."

"I took the liberty of researching into all of your records before we came to Fort Arklay" Laura pridefully boasted, then turned to Henry with a malicious scowl. "What kind of an idiot would cry about _murderers and ghosts_ in his apartment, yet be dumb enough to lock himself inside for over a week?"

Everyone whipped their glares into the pompous agent's direction; except for Ada, who still stared forward with a smirk on her face. Henry, as much as he tried to hide it, was seething on the inside. It was obvious to the group that she preferred to push other people's buttons in order to get to know who they _really_ were. Ignoring the even more heavy mood in the air, she continued her roast.

"I'm surprised you never mentioned anything about dead people writing you _letters_, too, while you were at it." Laura added spitefully.

"Now that's enough!" Claire fired at Laura. She wasn't sure what she was referring to with Henry, but it felt rude and insensitive none the less.

"Relax, Claire!" Laura said, with mock defense. "It was just a joke. I read he claims to have saved his neighbor's life at the time too, so he's a noble idiot at best."

Claire had heard stories about her from Leon, and now knew them to be true. "I find it hard to believe that someone as childish as you is employed under my brother!"

"Yeah." Alex finally spoke. "How about we hear _your_ story, Laura?"

Laura out of the corner of her eye had been watching Alex now and again after she had made her introduction to the group. She was interested in talking to him anyway. "Alright, fine." Laura said, comfortable talking about herself for a change. "My father was a psychology professor at the University of Pleasant River and my mother was a computer technician for the army. I grew up in a wealthy military family that was very respected back in Pleasant River. In school, the subject I always excelled at the most was science, so I made chemistry my major in college. But deal was, whatever I wanted to be, it had to be something in the army. So at 16, I enrolled in military training programs and at 18, I officially applied for them to be either a soldier or a chemist. But by 21, due to my high academics, I was brought into the BSAA and I've been here ever since."

"Impressive." said Alex politely, but fake in tone. "Especially seeing as you're also a, what was that again, a _B&E Specialist?_"

Laura was curious. "Yeah, what of it?"

"Well given your pedigree," Alex began, "it's seems kinda strange knowing a rich bookworm who's good at breaking into places."

Any other day Laura would have been annoyed at this much excessive prying, but in Alex's case she was actually impressed he would notice that. With a shrug, she replied, "Eh, what can I say? When it comes to unlocking things, I'm the master."

"I'm glad your confident, Laura" said Claire with a hint of sarcasm. "But are you sure you not the _least_ bit worried about this mission? Seeing as Raccoon City just came back out of nowhere?"

Laura thought of that one honestly, like she already had since it was first announced to the BSAA. This _really did_ puzzle her. "I'll admit, it is pretty freaky. So far, the theory that Henry came up with makes the most sense I guess. Which I think by the way, ghost buster, makes you a smart idiot, too."

Henry could tell by Laura's expression that comment was indeed in jest and meant to be a true compliment. He politely nodded with a small smile and said, "Thanks for being honest."

Laura put her arms behind her head and relaxed her head against them while she continued. "With that said, I think anything can be explained if you look hard enough. All of us in this van have claimed to seen monsters at some point in our lives. That's because now monsters _are _real. There's always gonna be some mad scientist out there who does experiments and creates mindless mutants to use for war. But ghosts, devils, the occult? I'm sorry, Henry, but I believe in only what I can see and blow away."

Henry wasn't too offended by the comment. He was used to skeptics. Alex, on the other hand, took great exception to being made fun of. And in so many words, being called a _liar_. He knew Henry for a while now and he knew that him and his wife shared the same kind of encounters Elle and himself had. Alex was not going to be as diplomatic as Henry when it came to being called out.

"Is that right, Agent Breckenridge?" Alex began, a hard look in his eye. "I bet if you spent a day in Silent Hill you wouldn't be talking that shit."

Without skipping a beat or even looking at Alex, Laura responded calmly, "I did. when I was 8 years-old."

Alex honestly didn't see that coming, so he listened intently on how she could still feel the way she did. Laura explained, "When I was young, I ran away from home once to look for a friend. She always talked about how fun of a resort town Silent Hill was, so I figured I'd find her there. But I never did. I also heard that Silent Hill was supposed to be a really spooky haunted place, too. _Hmph._ It was a ghost town, alright. Nothing there but the empty buildings and the empty skulls of the few idiots I managed to cross looking for her."

"And did you find her?" asked Alex.

"…Not really." answered Laura. "Speaking of which, you live near there in Pleasant River too, right?"

"Yeah." Alex replied. "Small world we share."

"Yeah, real small." Laura's expression changed slightly on her face, as if something had been eating at her mentally. Then she asked, "Shepherd's your last name, right? I wonder-"

"-Wonder _what_?" snapped Alex defensively, not liking where this conversation was heading.

Laura was silent for a moment, as if pondering what to say next. Then she finally shrugged and said, "…_Hmph_, nevermind. It's probably nothing."

Then Laura finally turned her attention to Ada, who still sat quietly with her arms crossed and paying little attention to the others. "So you're Ada Wong, huh?"

Ada answered only in the same silence. Laura continued talking to her. "You know, I'll have to admit I was actually excited to meet you. You've got quite the resume from what I've read. Managed to get a glimpse at the Kennedy Report submitted on the 2004 Los Illuminados Incident. Gotta say that was _pretty_ kick ass how you handled yourself in Spain."

Ada still remained silent and staring off. Laura then extended her hand to her and said, "Tell ya what. Forget the Secret Service. After the mission, how about I put in a good word for you to join me in the BSAA where the _real_ excitement is? I think you and I could make an awesome pair on the Omega Team. What do ya say, pal?"

Ada finally turned to Laura's now pridefully cheerful face and replied, "Sure. Why not? I'm sure you and I would be the best of friends if Leon ever orders me to be."

An awkward silence, then faint snickers from everyone else sitting with her followed. It was painfully obvious that Laura had lost face in front of everyone. With the exception of Claire, everyone else did not know who Ada was, but they could tell by both her past prison attire and her demeanor that she was seasoned in combat and did not bullshit with childish behavior. For what face Laura lost in that moment, Ada gained in front of everyone for finally being honest and putting the agent in her place. Laura gritted her teeth, and without saying anything more, crossed her arms and sat quietly.

Meanwhile, up front in the driver's cab, D.K. and Leon passed the time of dread by getting to know one another as well. So far, Leon learned that he was the captain for the BSAA Omega Team and was good friends with Chris Redfield. He even talked about how much he enjoyed his teammates' company, but explained he did not joke around when it came to orders. Leon still wondered, however, how a joker as pleasant and entertaining as D.K. could have the misfortune of having Laura serve under him and still always have a smile on his face.

Almost as if he read Leon's mind, D.K. spoke, "About Laura back there. Just ignore her, she ain't a bad kid really. I knew her parents, her mom anyway, back before the BSAA when I was a scientist for the military. After I lost my family in the Raccoon City outbreak, I decided to apply my knowledge and experience to the Alliance. To fix things and make the world a better place."

"My condolences on your family." Leon said. "Everyone lost something during the Raccoon City outbreak. Chris and I share your sentiment against the evils Umbrella and people like them are responsible for. I have confidence that the cause we fight for will one day bring us a better future."

"It's alright…" replied D.K.. "and yes, I agree. So when Laura was approached about an agent position in the BSAA, her mother made me promise to make sure it was under me. She may come off a little bitchy, but I'd like to think I was a good a role model to her as my dad was to me."

"I'll take your word for it, D.K.." Leon said, then asked, "About your middle name, _Karasu_, it sounds kind of Asian. Is there a story behind it? I hope you don't mind me asking."

D.K. laughed. "Not at all. It's Japanese, as a matter of fact. My dad told me it meant _'crow.'_ Before I was born, he was a soldier stationed at an American base in Asaka, Saitama. My mother once told me he fell in love with the place the moment he set foot on land. Despite the uneasy tensions he faced being an American soldier on foreign soil, he embraced everything in their lifestyle. When my dad wasn't reading the Art of War, he was reading various books on bushido and haiku poetry. My mother once joked he made a better Samurai than he did an American marine. So one day, I asked my dad why my middle name was _Crow_? My father then told me about an old legend where the first Emperor of Japan became lost while traveling through the mountains. The sun-goddess from Heaven in response created a three-legged crow, whose legs represented dawn, noon, and dusk. Once the three-legged crow was born into existence, she sent it to guide the emperor safely out of the mountains. In deep gratitude, the emperor made the three-legged crow a national emblem of Japanese imperial rule, and from then on has also been a symbol of great wisdom."

"Is that right?" asked Leon. "Then I should feel lucky you're guiding us in here, because this fog would be too thick for me to drive through."

D.K. had been too focused on the conversation to really notice that the highway really was getting harder to see through the thick gray mist that was slowly worsening the deeper they went in. The headlights of the vehicle had already been on, but now he flipped on the bright fog lights and those did little to help either. D.K. did not like this much fog surrounding their convoy. An ambush could be easy if gone unchecked.

D.K. grabbed his radio and spoke into it to the others. "Okay everyone in the back, make sure to watch out the rear of the truck for any surprises. It is now advised to have your weapons ready and be alert. Everyone copy back there?"

"_Roger that, captain." _answered Laura on the radio. _"Deadly force authorized? Over."_

As much as he was now paranoid, D.K. responded, "Negative, at least for now. We still need to look out for survivors, so for now we shoot second. Do you copy?"

"_Yeah, I copy captain."_ Laura responded back. _"Over and out."_

D.K. continued to strain in seeing the road in front of him. And as he tried to drive, the walkie-talkie radios slowly began to emit static. Over time, the static became louder and louder. Everyone on the convoy was hitting their radios and trying to communicate on them but to no avail was communication between the driver's cab and the back possible. Everyone knew this couldn't have been a coincidence.

D.K. banged the radio a few more times, then looked at Leon. D.K. asked, "Do you think it might be the city doing this? Maybe some kind of electronic interference or you think somebody is deliberately messing us up?"

Leon really didn't want action this early. "I don't know, but I'm right now willing to bank on that first possibility. Since we crossed over this place is starting to give me the cre-SHIT! _ROAD!_"

D.K. without really realizing it, was running up close on a dark shadowy figure in the highway that was running across in front of him. In a panic to avoid hitting the silhouette, he quickly turned the wheel of the truck to the left onto the other lane. From there, he lost control at his speed and was now swerving to and fro. The panicked teammates in the back screamed into the radio for answers but remained unheard as D.K. struggled to gain control of the truck. Everyone braced themselves for the inevitable that was coming, and soon the truck went off the road and smacked into a tree. The static from the radios went away slowly.

* * *

><p><em><strong>Author's Note<strong>__**: Well, we're finally here. I wanted this to be the last moment the characters got acquainted with each other normally before the city really forces them to get to know each other the hard way. Also, I'm aware Laura was an orphan as a child. I'll cover that later. As for D.K., I've been on a "I Am Legend" film adaptations kick lately. So I envisioned the character to be like Will Smith's Robert Neville, so his first name "Darrell" is from his Agent J character in Men In Black and the last name "Taylor" was Charlton Heston's, who also played Neville in The Omega Man, character in Planet of the Apes, another movie in which a survivor finds himself alone in a mad world full of non humans. P.S.: A friend brought to my attention what the initials "D.K." referenced to, which now makes the nickname even more hilarious, yet unintentional. I'll have more soon… **_


	11. Chapter 10: Raccoon City

_**Author's Disclaimer**__**: All referenced characters, monsters, and locations are copyrighted properties of both Capcom and Konami and this is a respectfully passionate fan work of both their franchises. **__**WARNING**__**: This game story contains scenes of explicit violence, gore and disturbing verbal imagery which may be considered cruel. Parental discretion is advised.**_

* * *

><p><strong>~<span>Chapter 10: Raccoon City<span>~**

Everyone did a quick check amongst themselves for any injuries. Once everyone knew each other was all right, they abandoned the convoy truck as if it were on fire. Which thankfully, it wasn't. Before anyone could rush to the driver's cab, the doors on both sides were kicked open. Leon appeared unscathed but D.K. had received a cut above his left brow from hitting the steering wheel. Once Claire noticed, she rushed to him.

"D.K., you're bleeding!" she said. "I'll bandage that…"

D.K. waved her away, but not rudely. While holding his aching head, he said, "Somebody ran out in front of me!"

"What did they look like?" asked Henry. "Did you get a good look at who it was?"

"No," D.K. replied. "I just caught a quick glimpse, that was it."

"I'm not too sure," spoke Leon. "but the figure running in front of us looked small, like a kid."

"A kid?" asked Claire. "Why would a kid be out here of all places? Do you think it's a survivor? From the city maybe?"

Alex, who spent his own fair share of time chasing a _kid_ in his past, did not like this. And the screech of the radio static didn't thrill him, either. Alex knew in his gut this was going to be the same ordeal. Maybe something much worse. Laura then walked around to the front of the military truck to survey the damage. Despite being a massively large vehicle, the tree it slammed into did a good job none the less in stopping it in it's tracks. The tree was massive and only knocked from it's roots slightly, the fender caved in and smoke rising from the front hood.

With a kick to the vehicle, Laura spat, "Fucking jackass! You totaled our transportation!"

Claire, who had mechanic skills due to her love for motorcycles, went to take a look at it. She reached inside to pull the lever to pop open the hood; a mushroom cloud of smoke lifting from where the engine was. Claire hoped one foot over the large left-side front wheel and looked inside of it. After a few minutes she climbed back down and shook her head in disappointment.

"Looks like we're walking from here." Claire said.

To the group's surprise, a familiar voice came unto all of their radios. _"Omega Team, this is Hunnigan! Do you copy?"_

Leon was the first to respond. "Yeah, this is Leon. And boy is it _good_ to hear your voice."

"_Likewise."_ said Hunnigan. _"This is actually the second time we've attempted to call out to you. I think we're still experiencing communication problems. Better enjoy it while it lasts."_

"Our radios just a moment ago went nuts." Leon said. "There was a heavy amount of static on them. Didn't sound like anything I've ever heard as far as interference goes."

"_I wouldn't doubt that wouldn't be the last time that happens." _Hunnigan replied. _"Throughout the mission we will do our best to keep in frequent contact with all of you. By the way, Henry, are you there?"_

Henry fumbled clumsily with his radio, then finally spoke into it. "Y-yeah, I'm here. Over."

"_Good, Henry." _Hunnigan began. _"There's someone here that would like to check up on you…"_

Soon another familiar voice came on the radio. One that was music to Henry's ears. _"Henry? Henry? Are you there?"_

"Yeah, babe!" he said, not realizing he was smiling. "I'm here!"

"_Oh thank God!"_ Eileen exclaimed on the radio. _"How are you and everybody holding up?"_

Henry's smile disappeared. "Well, not _too_ good. You see, there's a small, slight problem…"

"_Problem, 'now'?"_ Eileen asked, worried. _"Oh God, Henry! Don't drop this shit on me now!"_

"Sorry, Eileen." Henry responded. "I have to say we were just in a wreck. Something ran us off the road and now the truck is too damaged to drive. We're gonna be doing this trek on foot it looks like."

Eileen sighed deeply, then responded, _"Okay. Henry, from here I want you to hand out the Holy Candles to everybody. Promise me no splitting up whatsoever!"_

"Got it, Eileen." Henry said. "All of us plan on sticking together."

"_Good."_ Eileen responded. _"I'm counting on all you guys to take care of my man. He's going to be doing the same for you."_

Claire responded to Eileen with a smile. "Don't worry, we're all experts here. He's in good hands."

"_Thank you."_ Eileen said, relieved. _"…All of you."_

Hunnigan then came back on the radio. _"We'll be contacting you frequently, but don't hesitate to contact us also to let us know the situation. All of us here wish you all the best of luck in there. This is Hunnigan and Eileen signing off. Over and out."_

Everyone found themselves back on their own, but at least together. Laura then asked, "_Holy Candles?_"

"Oh, right!" Henry took off his backpack and got on one knee. He unzipped it and pulled out 6 long white candles with a mystical light red symbol at it's base. He explained while he passed them out to everyone. "These babies got me through my hauntings and I've got a really good feeling you're going to need them. These are special candles with anti-spirit effects. The second you light them, they're guaranteed to repel ghosts. As for monsters, however, I've never known it to work. But I won't feel comfortable until all of you take one with yourselves."

All of them examined their gifts and stored them away. Laura responded with, "Okay, fine. I'll entertain it. By the way, King Arthur, I've been meaning to ask what's up with _Excalibur_ strapped to your back? You could've raided the depot with the others as opposed to raiding your closet of decorative fantasy sword props."

"Oh, this?" asked Henry, now with a confident smirk. "This is a Sword of Obedience. This is, as far as I know of, the last of five rare weapons against the dead. Stick this into an evil spirit and you pin them until it's removed."

"You sound pretty confident that it works." said D.K..

"That's because I've already used four of them." Henry said. "And somehow I've got a bad feeling I'm gonna use this one too."

Everyone one else besides Alex, to which Henry understood, were still skeptical. Surprisingly, Laura was not insulting him further either. That was okay, Henry knew, if what Walter had said to him the other night was true then all of them were going to be believers real soon. And he knew that he stood a better chance with his one firearm also. For years, he spent the time necessary to melt as much silver for more bullets and learn the incantations necessary to make them powerful against what they would soon be hunted by. But there was still the chance there could be mutants here. For that, he would have to be totally dependent on his team. At least he knew he could trust them.

"Okay," Leon began. "let's not forget we're on a time limit. Once we reach the entrance of the city, all of us will check our maps and we will determine the next course of action. I advise we get going."

D.K. nodded in agreement, then spoke. "You heard Leon. Were there's one person out there in the fog, there's bound to be more. I want everyone to be ready for an attack, but wait for my command to fire. Laura, I want you to take point. I will supply the backup. Anyone want to volunteer to secure the rear of our party?"

"I'll do it." Alex volunteered.

"Good job." D.K. complimented. "Everyone fall in line and watch your surroundings. Laura, lead the way."

Laura nodded in response and armed herself with her handgun. "You got it, captain! Move out kids! Field trip's not over yet!"

"And also, _stay quiet!_" D.K. hissed.

"Roger that." Laura ignored the scolding and did what she was originally told, and the rest of the group followed her.

The group walked in single file formation up the highway road, and were a lot closer to the city than they had first suspected. To their right, they could see faintly through the fog and trees that beyond was the ends of Victory Lake. The lake was once a preferred holiday destination for tourists back when the citizens of Raccoon City were lucky to still enjoy normalcy. Sadly, a couple of mutilated corpses washing ashore during the city's first virus scare did well to deter more vacationers. To their left, they were now finally beginning to see streets, then buildings.

"Welcome back home, guys." Claire said to Leon and Ada unenthusiastically.

"At least the streets are cleaner this time." Ada joked, though barely. "This place was disgusting last time we vacationed here."

"Let's hope the new welcoming committee here isn't as hungry as the last." added Leon.

As everyone finally entered the city, their eyes scanned as much as they could through the mist, which was thankfully light enough for them to see where they were. The city, just like they saw in the photographs that were taken as close as possible, was clean as far as they knew with no current signs of violence or destruction present. Unlike before, they didn't see shattered windows, bloody handprints of victims, or half eaten bodies strewn about. So far, it looked peaceful. _Too peaceful,_ they all felt. The city in the fog looked desolate as any ghost town they had seen before. Except this had once been a major city in the country. But something still remained here, they were sure. The last team that was sent in to investigate had been slaughtered by something. They knew if anything they were at least being watched.

"Just like before, isn't it?" Alex asked Henry.

"We're gonna find out soon enough." Henry replied.

Just then, Laura silently motioned for the group to halt. Everyone obeyed and followed her pointing finger as she aimed it at a small dark silhouette up the road in the middle of the street. Quickly she pulled out a pair of small binoculars and strained to see through the lenses. She could barely make out the appearance of the figure, but the height and body language definitely suggested a child.

"It looks like a kid." Laura whispered.

"If there's a kid, do you think this city could be inhabited by normal people, too?" asked Claire.

"Let's go ask the kid." responded D.K.

The group quietly approached the figure, who didn't seem to take any notice yet of them as it's back was turned to them. Eventually they got close enough to see clothing. The figure was that of a small Caucasian girl with light brown shoulder-length hair covered under a blue knit beanie and was dressed in a fully zipped blue windbreaker with a knee-high dark gray dress and brown dress shoes with matching dress socks. Strapped to her back was a red back pack which was partially unzipped and filled with various papers bulging out of it. She had apparently stopped to pick up some of them off the street that had fallen out of her backpack. As she did this quietly grumbling to herself, a gold pendent swung from her neck back and forth like a small pendulum.

Once close enough, Claire made the first attempt at contact. "Excuse me, do you need some help?"

When the girl whipped around to see who was behind her, Claire was shocked to see a deep resemblance in the face of this girl of someone else she once met in this very same city. "Oh my god… you look just like _Sherry._"

Not knowing what else to do, the girl bolted away quickly. "Hey kid! Come back here!" shouted Laura, as everyone gave chase.

The group could barely keep up with the girl as she sped up the street away from them. They wondered if whether or not she wandered into this place on her own and may think they were trying to hurt her? Regardless of what she thought, everyone knew this was no place for children to be alone. Eventually the girl ran so far ahead that the mist swallowed her and she disappeared. By the time they passed Spear Street, they made a more startling discovery: a massive chunk of the city appeared to be missing and had it not been for D.K. snatching Laura from behind and yanking her back, she would have ran completely off the cliff of the hole.

Once Laura got over her initial shock, she peered over the cliff to see how deep it went. "It's… gone. There's, like, nothing's down there."

"I wouldn't be surprised." Henry said. "Maybe some parts of the city are still swallowed by the Dirac hole."

"You don't think that little girl ran off the cliff, do you?" asked Claire, worried.

"I hope not." Alex began. "But from the fog, the radios, that kid, and these holes… this is all too familiar, Henry."

Henry knew Alex and maybe even Walter were right, but he still wanted the opportunity to try to debunk something more sinister being the source. "Maybe, but there still may be more to this whole thing."

As everyone was investigating the cliff, Leon noticed a piece of paper laying near the edge that must have fallen out of the girl's backpack. Leon picked it up off the ground and examined it. It appeared to be some kind of notice on white construction printing paper with clip art at the top of a few familiar tourist spots within the city. It looked like an sightseeing invite that read:

_**[Welcome to Raccoon City! **_

_**Were a small industrialized city who would love to have you. After much needed "maintenance," we have now reopened the gates to our fine city for business and tourism. We implore you to take the time to come here and plan a long vacation during your stay. The citizens of this city are fine nature lovers. So when you're not hiking or camping in Raccoon Forest, try checking out other wonderful locations such as Victory Lake, the Raccoon City Zoo, and even our Café 13 Restaurant. Raccoon City will make you feel more alive than you ever have felt before! We here among the city's "new" committee, hope you enjoy your visit as we guarantee you are never going to forget us.**_

_**If you are interested in a free tour of the city's sights, come see our council's tour guide at the Raccoon City Park, as we promise he will have such sights to show you!**_

_**Yours forever, the Raccoon City Council.]**_

"Well," Leon began, "I guess this now answers our question as to whether or not the city is inhabited by people… _wait a minute._"

Leon looked closer at the top right hand corner and found something even more peculiar. "This thing is dated October 1st, 2010. This invitation is a year old."

"That's the same day the Dirac hole was discovered!" exclaimed Henry.

"If that's the case, then it could be possible that this city has already existed for a year right under our noses…" said Leon.

Everyone's radio then began to emit the same static again, except at the moment it was very faint. "Looks like the radios are freaking out again." mentioned Claire.

D.K. grabbed his radio in hopes maybe someone was trying to communicate with them. "Mayday! Mayday! This is Captain Taylor of the BSAA Omega Team! Is anyone there, do you copy?"

There was now answer, other than the slowly increasing volume of the static. D.K. called out again. "Come in, this is Taylor! Do you copy?"

The static grew louder. D.K. shouted one final time. "Mayday, damn it! If anybody out there, give us a sign!"

The sign came in the form of a body falling out from one of the building windows on the corner of Spear Street and landing on the roof of a parked car; caving in the roof and windows with a loud crash. Everyone spun around and cautiously headed in that direction. As they came closer, the static grew even louder. Once they were six feet away from the body, the static was now defining. By this time, everyone began to feel slight headaches. Headaches, that Henry was all too familiar with. Henry's blood went ice cold.

"Step away from him!" Henry screamed.

The car's surface around the body began to bubble and blacken where the body touched. Then the figure lifted itself off the car and then fell to the ground face first. Upon hitting the ground, the same effect then happened to concrete the body touched. As it raised to it's feet, the group could see the figure had pale, cracked rotting skin and was dressed in a blue police officer uniform with a police hat resting on it's head of messy brown hair. The eye glasses it wore hid lifeless eyes as it's mouth dropped open to let out a moan. A moan only a dead person could make.

"Glad the wait's over, zombie!" Leon said as he aimed for it's forehead and pulled the trigger. The bullet ripped between the eyes of the body and it's head cracked backwards as the rest of the body fell back. But the body never hit the ground. Instead it's back hovered just inches off the ground while it's knees remained pointed vertical and the toes of it's shoes barely touched the ground. Everyone watched in amazement as the body who looked like a zombie did not die from a headshot, and slowly rose back up right. And then, off the ground as it floated towards the panicking team who's radios screamed for them.

* * *

><p><em><strong>Author's Note<strong>__**: Well, sorry about the wait. I'm going through some (good) unexpected personal events in my life and I'm going to be focusing more on those for a few months and slow down a little on the writing. Don't worry, I'm still gonna try to do one chapter every week or two. I really don't want to leave you guys hanging so I promise to have more as soon as I can. As for notes on this chapter, our first monster confirmed is the Ghost. I've spent a lot of time blueprinting the 21 Sacrament victims in this story. I won't spoil who they are, other than saying all of them will be official characters from the Resident Evil universe. Next chapter, I'll have a new monster and possibly the first place our protagonists will explore. **_


	12. Chapter 11: Warm Welcome

_**Author's Disclaimer**__**: All referenced characters, monsters, and locations are copyrighted properties of both Capcom and Konami and this is a respectfully passionate fan work of both their franchises. **__**WARNING**__**: This game story contains scenes of explicit violence, gore and disturbing verbal imagery which may be considered cruel. Parental discretion is advised.**_

* * *

><p><strong>~<span>Chapter 11: Warm Welcome<span>~**

"Put'em down!" ordered D.K. as everyone opened fire upon the flying ghoul.

While everyone else blasted away with their guns, Henry scrounged in his backpack in a panic for a Holy Candle to light against the ghost. He did not want the others to use theirs just yet, for he had plenty he can rely on for backups himself. Henry then realized he hadn't given anyone a Saint Medallion yet for additional protection. He cursed himself and swore to do it later. After finding a candle, he began to light it with his Zippo. Then among the echoes of gunfire and the ghostly moans, he heard the guttural shriek of one of his teammates.

Alex had ran to Laura whom the ghost focused on the most out of the group. To everyone it sounded like it was whispering something, but through all of the panic, no one could understand it. As it reached out to Laura, who had now run out of ammunition for her handgun, Alex stepped in and yanked her away from it's grasp. As Alex jammed his knife into the left cheek of the ghost, it responded by reaching it's right hand into Alex's chest. Everyone was in disbelief as they watched how it's hand just glided into his body without making any entrance wound or any blood. Alex looked down with terror in his eyes as he saw and _felt_ the limb eerily moving around inside him. Then he felt a pinch followed by a great pain in his chest. He screamed and fell to his knees as the ghost clutched his heart from within.

"No!" shouted Henry as he aimed his gun and fired a silver bullet into the side of the ghostly officer's head.

The bullet snapped it's head to the right, knocking the police visor off it's head as it released it's grip on Alex. Alex then fell to the ground and laid on his back as he coughed blood. Claire rushed to his side to check him. As the ghost crumpled to the ground, also on it's back, Henry rushed over to it and placed the lit candle next to it's body. It groggily twitched it's limbs around with gurgled moans, but it did not get back up.

"He's still alive!" Claire shouted, referring to Alex. "But his pulse is crazy. I think he tried to go into cardiac arrest!"

Leon looked at the two of them, then at the ghost who now laid on the ground still moving. He walked up to it, his gun still aimed and was close enough to see the officer's badge read _"Officer Harry von Brandt."_ Henry also began unbuttoning the ghost's shirt much to everyone's surprise, as they were all curious as to what he was doing. After undoing the officer's button-up uniform and looked underneath it's undershirt, he found exactly what he had hoped he would not find: the numbers _12121_ carved into it's chest.

Henry slumped back and shook his head. "Walter was right…"

"Is that an evil spirit?" asked Leon. "Is that why he's not getting back up? Because of that candle?"

"Yes… that was the ghost of a murder victim." replied a now very weary Henry.

"How do you know he was murdered?" asked D.K.

"You see this?" asked Henry as he pulled back on the twitching ghost's undershirt to show the carved numbers. "This police officer fell victim to the same kind of ritualistic murder the others did during the Walter Sullivan case."

"Are you saying Walter did this?" asked Leon.

Henry shook his head. "I'm sorry I didn't say anything before. Hours after you and Agent Hunnigan left our house, Walter's ghost visited me and warned me that someone in Raccoon City was trying to perform the same 21 Sacraments ritual he attempted. He wanted me to go here to kill whoever was doing it. He threatened Eileen's life if I failed."

"What the hell is the 21 Sacraments?" demanded Laura.

"It's a black ritual in which the performer must sacrifice 21 people, including the person performing it, to create a world in which only they themselves could control."

"Then that means Raccoon City…" began Ada.

"Exactly. The reason this city exists is because someone here connected to it is trying to reawaken it back to existence!"

"Wait a minute!" interrupted Laura. "This is totally insane! I mean, I see the fucking ghost laying there as clear as day, but Jesus Christ, are you really telling me someone can just _decide_ to kill 21 people and create a new fucking world? You're saying it's really _that_ easy?"

"Not necessarily." replied Henry. "No one to my knowledge has ever successfully completed the ritual because it's forbidden within the very cult it originates from."

"_The Order…"_

Everyone looked at Alex, whom was back on his knees resting on his right hand while his left clutched his chest. Anger flared in his eyes as he glared at Henry. Alex then continued to speak. "_You son of a bitch! You had knowledge about this and you didn't warn us? You of all people know how dangerous the Order is! Why?_"

"Alex, please understand!" pleaded Henry. "I did warn all of you on the possibility of ghosts and gave you all the candles in advance! I didn't lie to anyone! I didn't say anything about Walter because he threatened me and Eileen, not to mention I had to see it for myself to know I could really believe what he was saying. If all of you feel as though I tricked you in not saying it earlier, I'm sorry."

Alex, despite still being upset that yet another secret was kept from him by someone he thought he could trust, understood Henry's intentions and decided to forgive him. "_If you ever hold back any information about the Order from me again, I'm gonna eat you for breakfast!_"

Henry rushed over to his backpack, grabbed the Saint Medallions, and passed them around amongst the group; starting with Alex first. Henry smiled at Alex and said, "I remember when a ghost did that very same thing to me. I thought for sure I was going to keel over. Don't worry, you'll live. This will help speed up your recovery."

"What is this?" asked Claire.

"Saint Medallions." responded Henry. "They're good luck charms that have the same healing and anti-spirit effects as the candles. These, however, aren't as strong as the candles, I'm afraid."

"…_Hokey religions and ancient weapons are no match for a good blaster at your side, kid."_ sarcastically quoted Alex with a forgiving smile.

Henry sheepishly smiled back. "Thanks, soldier."

"The Order, huh?" asked Laura. "Come to think it, I've heard of those guys. A lot of occult nerds back in college talked about that group. Said they practice their worship in Silent Hill. Now that I think about it, it was very strange that the town was just empty like that when I was a kid. People still live there, yet why didn't I see any of them either?"

"_That's how the Order works, Breckenridge._" responded Alex. "_They always hide in the background and oversee everything. They must've not seen you as a threat to their faith, otherwise they might have tried to kidnap you to convert another member._"

Laura's face developed a more puzzled expression. She then said, "Wait a minute. That ghost… I think it was trying to tell me something."

"What was it saying?" asked Leon.

"Did you hear it clearly?" also asked Henry.

"Through all the gun fire I wasn't sure. I know it followed me more than any of you! But anyway, it kept saying something. Over and over. Something beginning with an _'R'_ I think…"

Henry bolted up from kneeling next to the ghost. "Did it say, _'Receiver'_?"

Laura paused. "I don't know… maybe? Why?"

Alex weakly chuckled at the irony of the one major skeptic in their group now being the most hunted among the prey. "_If I remember correctly how Henry had explained it to me before, it means you've got a big fucking target on your back now. Whoever is doing the ritual is gonna try to sacrifice you too._"

Laura for the first time in her life, felt weak in her legs as if she were about to pass out. No, she thought to herself, she wouldn't give them the pleasure of seeing her weak! "That's bullshit," she scolded, "you're not pulling that crap on me!"

Ada, whom had remained mostly out of the conversation, walked up and grabbed Laura by the shirt. Surprised at the prisoner's actions, Laura was forcibly led away by Ada towards the ghost that still laid by the candle, moaning and twitching. She started to resist a little, but Ada surprised everyone by cracking Laura hard in the face with her hand to snap her out of the struggle. As the pink cheeked Laura stared with wide eyes at Ada in shock, Ada continued to pull her by the shirt towards the ghost. Once at it's body, she grabbed Laura by the head and forced her as close to the ghost as she dared to.

The ghost's lifeless glare locked with the panic stricken, tear-stinging eyes of Laura. Everyone waited breathlessly as the ghosts mouth began to move. The 12th victim of the ritual, through all it's strength against the holy light that bound it to the street floor, lifted it's left hand and pointed at Laura's horrified face. It then gurgled, _"R… Re… Receiver… Receiver… Receiver…"_

After Laura could take no more, she fought free of Ada's grip and fell to the ground. She struggled to get back to her feet and once she did, she reached for the riot gun strapped to her back. Laura then began talking aloud to herself. "So I've been marked for death, huh? I'm being haunted by a murder and his ghost flunkies? Fuck that! I've fought worse than this. I'm Nine Lives Laura of the BSAA Omega Team! I've survived Las Plagas infected coal miners in the hills of Kentucky! I was there to do the clean up against the Yawdie des Barons in Jamaica! I've survived more encounters with death than any member of my unit and still successfully accomplished my missions! I'm not afraid of any ghost! No one! Not any of you, especially that _red bitch_ over there, is going to upstage me on this mission! Fuck you and fuck the ghosts! I don't need anyone's help!"

"Breckenridge!" D.K. snapped.

Laura stopped her rant very slowly began to come back down from her nervous lapse. D.K. sternly looked at Laura and said, "You give us another outburst like that, and I'll tranquilize your ass and put you in restraints. This shit has just gotten _beyond_ real, okay? You're scarred. I'm scarred too; we all are. Whatever it is at work in this city, it wants us here. We need to listen to Henry and Alex, because they are familiar with what's going on here. We can fix this, because now we have a better perspective on the situation. So you cool, Nine Lives? Is that understood?"

Gritting her teeth, and knowing what he said was true, Laura nodded. "Yes sir. I'm sorry, it won't happen again…"

Leon looked at Henry. "So how do we stop this?"

"We have to find the Receiver of Assumption. This person, whoever they are, is the one responsible for Raccoon City coming back. If we kill him, we destroy this city along with him!"

"And if we don't kill him?" asked Claire. "What happens if we fail?"

Henry took a deep breath. "In the Order's scripture, it's said that the Holy Mother shall appear in the countries of the world and shall bring salvation to the sinful ones. The Mother, whoever that will be, is the receiver of the sacrament that will birth this world into existence. If the ritual is complete, this city will become a living god, and the killer will use it to move the city wherever in the world he wants for more souls to fuel it!"

"So in the end, we really are fighting the city itself…" said Leon. "This time, let's make sure it stays dead for good!"

"Everyone!" D.K. alerted. "The tour invitation that girl left behind. It says to go to Raccoon City Park to meet someone to guide us. If by some crazy chance people still live here, we're gonna need all the help we can to find this Receiver of Assumption."

"And if our tour guide _is_ the Receiver of Assumption?" asked Ada.

"Then we'll shoot his ass, too!" replied D.K.

The radios then began to wail again with static. Everyone, besides Alex and Henry, looked at their radio's and now started to piece together how it would always go crazy whenever a threat was near. They then readied themselves for another attack to come out from the fog. With Claire's help, Alex got himself back to his feet and readied his assault rifle. The static grew louder and louder as the tension grew along with it. Everyone was spinning their aim at every direction not knowing what they'll expect, but knowing they _would_ expect it. Soon it just wasn't the static they heard. Then followed feral growls. Then howling. And then the loud scurrying of running paws.

D.K. was the first to be tackled out from the fog by what at first looked like a canine of some kind. As everyone tried carefully to aim at it to shoot it off, the features of the savage beast appeared far more gruesome to imagine. It was a monstrous double-headed canine where it's head was split vertically downwards from it's jaw line. It's body looked horribly burned and wrapped in various bloody puss-soaked bandages. As the beast sank the teeth of both halves of it's head into D.K.'s left arm, D.K. used his free right to punch the beast in the head repeatedly. Still no loosening it deadly grip in it's disfigured jaws, D.K. finally pulled out his massive knife and tore through the monstrous dog's throat; spraying himself in dark red coagulated blood. The dog whipped around over him in violent death throes, then finally fell to the ground twitching. D.K. didn't have the time to collect himself as another from out of the fog leapt at him also. He successfully kicked it over him, but was soon covered by two additional Double Heads, then the one he had just kicked away.

"Captain Taylor!" screamed Laura.

As Laura tried to go back for her handgun to get a more careful shot at the pack of deformed dogs mauling at a fighting and screaming D.K., another one of the Double Heads leapt for her; both of it's cleaved drooling jaws spread open like a hellish Venus flytrap. Before she could react to shield herself, Leon had already to her relief dispatched the creature with a shot from his handgun; causing blood from the gunshot to spray slightly on her face. She quickly regained her senses and raced to D.K. to help fight off the hounds. Laura did not make it far without having to face another one of them on her own. The group had been ambushed at all ends by a pack of these Double Heads; totaling at ten so far with more that they could hear in the distance. Everyone did their best to fight off the creatures, but it seemed with every one of the demonic dogs they put down, more would come in it's place. Leon had so far now killed two just as one was running up behind him to attack. Just as Leon turned in time to hear the snap of it's jaws, he saw the blast from Ada's Hookshot gun as it's grappler hooked itself into it's snapping head. Hitting the recoil on the gun quickly and strongly positioning herself, she yanked the Double Head back with a yelp and it flew past her bowling into two additional of it's kind as they attempted to attack Alex, whom had already been dealing with his own.

Matters got worse after Claire shot one to her left with her handgun and throwing her knife into another's head with her right. When she retrieved her knife and tried to run to a much more open space to gain a better field to fight in, she felt something trip her and cause her to fall to the ground. Looking down, to her utter horror, she found two rotting hands latched around her ankles had emerged through a puddle of the same bubbling black substance that the officer ghost had caused when it touched. As this new ghost pulled itself out of the ground, Claire could see it resembled a young Asian woman with a white short sleeve shirt with red ringers around the sleeves and neck and short red gym shorts with white stripes down the hips. The number carved into her left thigh read "15121". Claire shrieked and fired her hand gun repeatedly into the ghost's face; rocking it's head back with each shot, but never killing it. The shooting and kicking to the head eventually was enough for it to release it's grip from Claire.

"Retreat!" screamed D.K. in pain as the Double Heads continued to bite him. "Everyone get the fuck out of here!"

With the almost infinite pack of Double Heads and now a new ghost emerging alongside the now revived officer ghost who finally outlasted the Holy Candle, everyone finally gave up their offence against the monster and had no choice but to run for their lives. D.K., however, was still pinned by the Double Heads and could not follow his comrades. In a panic and not realizing what they were doing, the dogs managed to run most of them in directions away from one another. By the time Leon and Laura had ran up Mina Street and turned the corner towards Woodbine Drive, they now realized they were the only two amongst themselves of the Omega Team sent into Raccoon City. And the demonic dogs were still behind them howling and snarling.

"Fuck! We've been separated from our team!" exclaimed Laura breathlessly.

"No choice!" Leon commanded. "Keep running!"

"Where are we even running to?" she asked.

"I don't remember!" he answered, honestly. "I remember from the map a major center of buildings being this way! It was one of the ones we were gonna go to anyway to search for help!"

"I guess I should be thankful that you used to be a _cop_ here! Now I _know_ I won't get lost!"

"Stop bellyaching and run, damn it!"

Upon reaching the Woodbine Drive, they both came to the realization as to what the important structure was. Before them was a large gated center with multiple ambulances parked around it. Leon had remembered seeing the Raccoon City Hospital marked on the map and noted that it was the closest building believed to have a possible population to their entry point into the city. He had planned on suggesting it earlier, but then everything had went to Hell. Leon and Laura would have no choice but to take refuge here while evading the Double Heads and ghosts. Hopefully their teammates would find their way there, they both hoped. They ran into the narrow drive way that was between the building and the small land of on grounds park for patients and visitors. They finally ran up the reinforced glass double doors underneath the large blue hospital logo between two symbolic red crosses and pulled on their handles. To their amazing luck, they were open and the doors quickly yawned open to invite them into the darkness.

Once inside the hospital, they found the lock mechanism for the double doors and locked them in place. They watched outside through the thick glass doors with their guns drawn for the beasts that had given chase to them. Or in hopes they could give cover to their teammates, at least what they knew was left of them. The waited and watched for four minutes for their comrades. No one came. To their relief, the Double Heads were not waiting outside the doors either. For the Double Heads didn't have to.

* * *

><p><em><strong>Author's Note<strong>__**: I'm back! Ha! I bet you guys thought I quit. Don't worry, I really do plan on finishing this, but like I said before, the chapters will be few and far in between. Now to business. Our new monster alongside our story's Ghost 12121, is the Double Heads from SH3 and the new Ghost 15121. I chose the Double Heads because of their symbolism referencing to the Cerberus (from RE, get it?) and because their heads are split like the personality of another character we will meet down the road… Also, maybe in the next two chapters, you'll get to figure out who I'm choosing for victims of the Sacraments' ghosts. As for the next monster in the story to introduce, our protagonists are now in a hospital, you do the math. I'll try to add more soon, so stay tuned! Thanks for your continued support! **_


	13. Chapter 12: Raccoon City Hospital

_**Author's Disclaimer**__**: All referenced characters, monsters, and locations are copyrighted properties of both Capcom and Konami and this is a respectfully passionate fan work of both their franchises. **__**WARNING**__**: This game story contains scenes of explicit violence, gore and disturbing verbal imagery which may be considered cruel. Parental discretion is advised.**_

* * *

><p><strong>~<span>Chapter 12: Raccoon City Hospital<span>~**

After catching their breath and lowering their weapons, it was Laura who first spoke. "I fucking hate dogs."

Leon then went for his radio. "Everyone! Status report! Is everybody okay! Do you copy?"

The only thing that responded was faint static that slowly died away. As the new silence grew defining within the walls of the hospital, Leon knew they were off to a tremendous bad start being separated from everyone who's purpose meant so much to this mission's success. However, after a deep sigh, he remembered that _bad starts_ on a mission have always been his curse in this business. Everyone that's here are veterans in the war against monsters, he thought. They're still alive out there.

Once Leon and Laura were convinced nothing at the present moment would approach the doors to follow them in, they then turned their wandering eyes into the hospital lobby. Through what little rays of light that could pour through the glass doors, they could see some fake tropical potted plants to their left of the entrance. They turned on their flashlights to get more visibility. It was as you would expect a hospital to look. The marble, black-and-white check marked floor showed them their reflections with the waiting area immediately in front of them. Upfront underneath a suspended television was a small waiting area dark yellow furniture and a magazine rack not too far away. To the edge of its right were six reception windows and a dark hallway that had yet to be traveled.

"So what's the plan from here?" asked Laura.

Leon thought for a moment then said, "We were originally going to start our search here, so might as well sweep it for people or hostilities. That little girl is proof that there are people still in this city."

"You're not gonna suggest we split up, do you?" asked Laura, not sure if she wanted to go solo after her encounter with the ghost.

"Negative." replied Leon to her relief. "We are exploring this building together. Starting now. The faster we get through this, the faster we leave. Remember, we're on borrowed time."

Laura nodded and both treaded into the darkness on defense. As they were getting ready to pass the waiting area, something caught Laura's eye on the coffee table. It appeared to be an old worn copy of the _Raccoon Today_ newspaper that was circulated when the city was still alive. Besides the bold title at the top and the date showing _September 6, 1998,_ most of it looked ineligible with most of the text blurred from past dampness and old age. The most noticeable feature was what looked like small smears of blood around it in various areas. Laura picked it up to look at it and one article of text intrigued her enough to read, despite some of it being unreadable.

_**[A gh_?**_

_**Sightings of a myst_ masked**_

_**figure in the _ _ woods are**_

_**on the rise.**_

_**The bloody remains of _ and wild**_

_**dogs have also been showing up near**_

_**river banks in the area.**_

_**The whole re_ has been _wept up**_

_**in the hysteria and a mood of fear**_

_**and paranoia is _revalent.**_

_**Long-time residents insist that it's**_

_**the _ _ _ _ _ _**_

_**nearby hospital _ close_ down _**_

_**_ears _**_

_**Are these bizarre sightings just a**_

_**taste of things to come?]**_

"Laura? What's that?" asked Leon, noticing the newspaper she had in her hands.

Laura tried to remember what to say, almost distracted by the article, then responded. "Some old newspaper. It's got blood on it, I think."

"Figures." grumbled Leon. Then he nodded towards the hallway.

Laura nodded back in response and attempted to take the lead, but Leon suddenly pulled her back. "What the hell?" she yelped.

"You're covering _me._" Leon deadpanned.

"Bullshit." Laura quipped. "I'm the Pointman."

"You're also haunted." Leon reminded her, much to her dismay. "If those things, those ghosts, really are seeking you out, you best keep behind me or else you'll draw them right in front of us."

Laura did not like being put in situations that made her appear to everyone as a damsel needing protection. But deep down, she knew she was the most terrified member of the team. Everything about this city she felt defied all boundaries of the modern world of science and logic. What if this town really was a manifestation of a force more sinister, she thought to herself.

"Look, you got me." she admitted through gritted teeth. "I'm scared to hell of this place. But as an agent of the BSAA, I know I don't have time to be afraid of this shit. I'm strong and I'm fast, so just-"

"You're reckless and foolhardy." Leon hissed. "And if you force bravery before caution, you die. No more arguments. Follow."

Laura bit her lip and nodded reluctantly. As she followed Leon into the dark hall, she reflected on the attitude in which everyone always showed her. One word would always surface in her mind: _disrespect._ She came from a respectful family, graduated at a young age, and had already fought against monsters. Yet despite all of her accomplishments, she felt undervalued. Even resented. This would make her blood boil and there were times in which she would go into violent mood swings when she felt as if someone were insulting her on her level as an agent. So what if she was boastful, Laura secretly thought, she had every right to be. She was wealthy, she was intelligent, and she was dangerous.

Sometimes she would secretly fantasize of coming across an enemy, one that was unaffected from any virus or mutation. And she knew just how much pleasure it would give her to hurt a human being beyond combat. She would try to imagine how much it would take to make someone know how helpless they were. The thought of someone looking up into her eyes from there own terrified, tear-soaked pupils and begging for their pathetic life filled her with a warmth cosmic. Their death would be slow. And every time she would take a human's life, she decided she would always imagine _him!_

When Laura thought back to those days 19 years ago in which she looked for her best friend, only to meet a man who turned out to not only claim the same person they both looked for was his wife, but admitted to murdering her, she knew her innocence was lost. She knew that everything she had believed as a child was lies. She saw the world for how cold and dangerous it really was. There was no love. There was no protection. Everyone dies. It was on this last day that when she finally left Silent Hill, a town that for all she saw was desolate, suddenly became more harsh and darker. Every step out, she could feel the place watching her, now paying attention to the little girl that saw this place for the ugliness it was. And the whole time she walked, she felt the boogeyman's presence behind her. But through the fearlessness and hatred that burned through her stinging eyes into her soul, she knew it wasn't stalking her. It was walking with her.

After passing the reception booths, Leon and Laura came to a small area. To their right was a coffee vending machine, to the front against the wall was an abandoned gurney, and to the left was a sturdy metal shutter that was pulled down and blocked off the remainder of the hallway that lead to the other rooms or maybe even another exit out. They shined their lights beyond the gate into the hall. They did not see anything. They then decided to try the receptionist door that was back down the hall as that was the only other door they saw. Trekking back to the door, they could faintly hear some noise behind the door. It was a sound of rummaging and papers falling. The radios were quite, so they knew it had to be a person in there.

Both Leon and Laura nodded to each other for their readiness and quickly opened the door. Leon entered first, followed by next by Laura. Sure enough, inside the now cluttered reception office was a tall, slender woman dressed in a red business suit and short blonde hair. The color of her outfit momentarily reminded Leon of Ada but was not distracted long for he knew she was fully capable of fending for herself. The woman's back was turned at first, as she appeared to rummage through the various drawers for something. Finally giving up, she turned to see who just entered the room. Upon seeing the two agents, she addressed them with very little surprise.

"It's amazing." she began with an air of sarcasm. "As hard as we fought to leave this city, here we all are coming back. We're like a hive of bees enslaved to this place."

"Are you a survivor of the original outbreak?" asked Leon, thankful that their mission has bared at least some positive fruit.

"I sure am." she said, devilishly. "There was quite a few of us that survived, believe it or not. Are both of you survivors as well?"

"Just me." replied Leon.

"Then you are aware of our connection to this city?" she riddled vaguely.

"Besides being survivors, what do you mean?" asked Leon.

The woman's beautiful, slender face then became serious. "There have been disappearances throughout the country. For about two weeks now, there's been reports that various strangers would always pass through the town of Arklay. And they would always head in the direction that Raccoon City _used to be._ Kind of strange, don't you think?"

"Strange doesn't even scratch the surface." spoke Laura, who now focused back on her mission and put away her dark thoughts.

"You know," the woman in red continued, "it's an even _bigger_ coincidence that all these missing strangers' backgrounds I've looked up also happen to be survivors of the original outbreak too."

Both Leon and Laura were surprised as they were never made aware of any missing survivors before the mission, just to only search for ones still inside the city who may have survived the impact of the blast and disappeared with it. Leon was sure, though, that this was only a simple oversight on everyone's part due to focusing more solely on Raccoon City itself.

"You being a survivor yourself, you must know the reason why everyone is coming back here then." Leon said.

"_That_ I don't know." the woman said with a sigh of frustration. Leon wondered if she had friends here also who had survived with her, but before he could ask she continued to speak. "However, I think I might be able to find an answer as to where this city came from."

The woman then approached the two agents and stuck out her hand. With a small chuckle, she said, "Forgive my manners. I'm used to introducing myself right off the bat. My name is Alyssa Ashcroft; reporter and journalist for the Arklay Echo as well as for the former _Raccoon Press._ It's a pleasure to meet you, _mister…?_"

Leon shook her hand. "Kennedy. Leon Kennedy of the United States Secret Service. This is Laura Breckenridge of the Bioterrorism Security Assessment Alliance."

A look of unexpected disappointment played on Alyssa's face for a brief moment, but then she returned with her smile almost as if everything was fine and still going according to plan. "Secret Service agent, you say? And what might bring you here, hmm? Were you sent to look for the missing survivors, or are you searching for something else?"

"We're here for a little bit of everything, really." responded Leon. "We are to sweep the place for answers to the phenomena as well as find any normal people who still inhabit the city."

"Well, rest assured there are people still inhabiting this city. But they're pretty fucking far from _normal._" Alyssa said crossing her arms with a raised eyebrow.

"I can tell already." Leon said, sensing something odd about her behavior. "So what were you looking for?"

Alyssa knew that this man would see through any attempt she would make of lying, but she damned herself as to why it would have to be a Secret Service agent, of all people here, she would have to meet. Now she would never leave with what she came for.

With a sigh, Alyssa answered. "I'm sure you are aware of the Dirac Project, yes? It was rumored to be an inter-dimensional experiment that Umbrella attempted at their Ground Zero facility, but was shut down too fast to even try whatever it was doing. There were documents, very vague, that were released of the discovery of all the research pertaining to the project. The head government researcher that replaced Umbrella's staff was also supposedly the discoverer of those old documents himself. His name was Dr. Philip Cotton. He along with everyone at the Ground Zero facility disappeared when that massive hole appeared."

"I see you've done your homework," complimented Leon. "Come to think it, your name does sound familiar. You did some articles on Umbrella. Very damning material. You certainly helped in putting them out. I'd expect no less from someone of your caliber."

Alyssa smiled narcissistically. "Flattered. So anyway, the reason I'm here is for two stories: to solve Raccoon City's mysterious return and to find why it has called back their citizens."

"You forgot to mention hunting for any material pertaining to Dr. Cotton or his work on the Dirac Project." Leon added.

Alyssa smiled slyly. "Well I _am_ a field reporter. If there's a story, I'll sniff it out no matter where it is. Don't you feel the public deserves to know the truth, Mr. Secret Service agent? Well, government agent or not, you are not stopping me from exposing the danger you've put us in!"

"Christ," Leon began, annoyed, "tell the world whatever you like about whatever you find. But any government documents you find _will _be confiscated and taken back with me. And rest assured, Ms. Ashcroft, I can and will stop you if it comes to it."

A small snarl attempted to curve her lips, but she held it back and retorted. "Very well then, Mr. Kennedy. Besides, I've got a photographic memory anyway. Maybe in the end, we'll both get what we want."

Kennedy knew they didn't have too much time to debate. "Enough small talk. I suggest you stay with us for your own safety. We're not going to force you, but you should consider it given how dangerous this place is."

"Thanks for the offer, Mr. Kennedy. But I'm not just some beautiful dumb blonde. I'm a practitioner in Judo and I've got a gun. I've survived this city before and I can do it again. Until we meet again, later…" Alyssa then turned her back to the two agents and with a wink and a smile, exited through the only other door in the room.

"What a bitch." Laura commented.

"At least it's one less headache." Leon said. "We can't make her come with us, so she's on her own. Let's follow her through that door and see if there's more of this hospital to explore in there."

"Right."

Leon and Laura walked across the room and entered the very same door Alyssa left through. Inside was a doctor's office with a small leisure area, three computer workstations, and a set of three metal lockers against the far left of the wall. Looking around at first they didn't see anywhere else that Alyssa could have disappeared to. But then Laura pointed out to the back right corner a small elevator that was almost obscured by a wooden cabinet with glass windows. As they approached, they saw that the right panel of the elevator had a speaker along with the up and down arrows. Looking closer at the label, they could see that it was in fact a voice-recognition lock.

"I'm not sure how I'm gonna break this one, Leon." admitted Laura.

"Maybe you won't have to…" Leon replied as he spotted what appeared to be a portable tape recorder on the floor next to the elevator. Alyssa, you sly devil, he thought to himself.

"Maybe we should listen to it." said Laura.

Kennedy pressed the play button on the side of the black recorder and listened to the recorded voice on the other end. It said, _**"-deceptively apparent and very visible, the paths of the subject's brain hold unknown destinations. It's a puzzle-like maze. So much secrets to unlock within! If only I could devote my life to exploring this man's mind, to ultimately go just further into those dark corridors. To see and know why this intelligent young student could do such disgusting, violent acts towards those women. Especially his own wife! Maybe then, I could find a solution to his madness."**_

After listening to what he felt was enough, Leon stopped the recording and pressed rewind briefly to return as much to the beginning of the message as he could. They both knew that this was what Alyssa must have used to bypass the voice-recognition lock and gain entry onto the elevator. He then found the button to activate the microphone and replayed the message. After a sound which signaled confirmation, Leon pressed the _up_ arrow of the elevator.

The electric hum of the transporting device kicked on from somewhere above and they could listen to the lift return back from the higher levels of the building. And with it came the radio static again. The closer the elevator lift sounded to them, the louder the static came. By the time the lift finally reached the bottom, the static was deafening. Leon and Laura held their breaths, but before they could ready their guns the elevator door slid open. They caught the glimpse of the creature to have their weapons midway in air, but a metal pipe came swinging down fast enough to not only disarm Leon of his handgun, but strike him in the face in the process. Leon then went crashing to the ground; clutching his head.

"Leon!" shouted Laura as she attempted to reach for him, but she only had time to dodge the blow from the metal melee weapon herself that the creature wielded.

Distancing herself from the creature, the light from her chest flashlight as well as that of the inside the elevator illuminated enough to show Laura the extent of it's distorted body. It appeared to be human once before, perhaps. The filthy, bloodstained uniform that looked as though it had never been taken off in years suggested this was a female who may have once been a nurse at this hospital. Now its skin was mostly gray with trails of green veins travel over the exposed skin. The further up the body, the more deformed the mutation. The arms were slightly longer and greener; about the same length as its legs. The nurse's hat that crowned the hideous head did little to hide the large read flower behind the cap or the ivy-green face that looked similar to a Venus flytrap with no eyes and bright red vertical lips that puckered like that of lover ready to kiss.

It looked blindly towards Laura's direction. Sensing the light, it snarled its lips into something that Laura almost thought was a smile and it approached her. The botanic nurse's movements were mechanical and twitchy, yet swayed with grace like a plant blown by a breeze. Laura aimed her handgun and pulled the trigger, but she didn't need to hear the _click_ of her hammer to remember regrettably her handgun no longer had ammo. With a panicked curse, she holstered her handgun and went for the riot shotgun she had as a backup. It's mouth opened with a screech, which was warning enough for Laura to dodge behind one of the desks as the next sound was a belching spray. When Laura saw the small smoke that rose from everything it hit, she knew immediately it was acid. As the monster stalked closer, its pipe banging against the desk, Leon finally rose to his feet with gun in hand. But his shot only grazed the side of its plant-like head and alerted it back to him. It's inhumanly long arm reached out and wrapped its latex glove-covered fingers around his neck. As it readied to swing its pipe down on him from its other hand, Laura hurled her combat knife into the back of its head. The creature yelped out a cry as it tried to reach for the knife lodged in its head. As it turned towards Laura again, it found her kneeling behind the desk for cover with the barrel of her shotgun aimed on it.

"Leon, get down!"

Leon rolled out of the way and with two shots, Laura sprayed the walking plant nurse almost apart. As its broken body slammed against the wall, it left as massive trail of green blood against the wall as well as chunks of its uniquely disgusting flesh. The dying radio static signaled that the nurse creature was dead. Leon got to his feet and approached its body along with Laura. Despite both seeing their fair share of mutated monsters, they couldn't really quite shake the look of this one. With the exception of the arms and head, the body was shaped very feminine and well endowed, which Leon wondered why he would even mentally note such a thing. Everything else was disgusting from the skin to the clothes. However the face on the head seemed to be the oddest part, which in some ways the puckered-up lips made it more ridiculous looking. Either way, it was the biggest threat they had yet come across.

"Leon, are you okay?" asked Laura.

Leon caressed the painful knot on the side of his temple where the creature had struck him with the pipe. He was bleeding, but only a little. Nothing to be concerned about, he felt. "Yeah. Damn thing came out of nowhere."

"What the hell is that thing?" asked Laura. "Do you think it used to be one of the staff here?"

"Dunno, it makes sense I guess." replied Leon. "It looks similar to the Ivy plant B.O.W.s I fought in South America years ago. This looks different. Not so much mutated, but freakish."

"Yeah," agree Laura. "I don't think a mutation could make something look like that."

"Well, this _is_ Raccoon City. Maybe there's traces of the virus still left… _wait a minute._" Leon wasn't sure if the blow to the head was playing tricks on him, but it wasn't until he looked closer and heard Laura utter an equally surprised curse that they both saw the same thing. On the uniform of the nurse creature, there was a name tag that read, _**"Nurse Ada Wong."**_

"Is _that…?_" squeaked Laura.

"No!" Leon snapped with gritted teeth. "This is someone fucking with us. Whoever's running the show knows we're here."

Leon got back up from the creature. "We need to move forward. Let's go."

"Right." replied Laura.

Both agents entered the small elevator. Upon doing so, they immediately noticed that the only floor buttons that didn't appear out-or-order where the ones to the 4th floor and the one to the 3rd level basement. At the moment the agents weren't too keen on checking the basement first, so they pressed the button labeled _**"4F."**_ The elevator door then slid closed, and the lift moved them towards their destination. They were then suddenly surprised that the moment the elevator began to move, there was a loud wailing around the building. Leon and Laura thought at first they might have triggered an alarm system by accident. But the sound of the siren they heard sounded ancient, and shook the building like an earthquake.

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><p><em><strong>Author's Note<strong>__**: Sorry about the long hiatus, guys. I was dealing with some personal problems. But now I've got my Internet back, so I'll try to hammer out one chapter a week at least. With that said, let's break down this chapter. Our new character is Alyssa Ashcroft from RE Outbreak, who mentioned missing people who had survived the original outbreak returning back to the city. I also introduce a (sort of) original monster, who I'll just refer to throughout the rest of the story as "Green Nurse." Like Leon said, it looks like a combination of Ivy +YX and the Bubble Head Nurse. I went with this due to the newspaper article reference I included in the story from RE Outbreak File 2 which had Botanic Zombies dressed like doctors. As for the name tag, don't worry, not Ada.**_


	14. Chapter 13: Warp Asylum

_**Author's Disclaimer**__**: All referenced characters, monsters, and locations are copyrighted properties of both Capcom and Konami and this is a respectfully passionate fan work of both their franchises. **__**WARNING**__**: This game story contains scenes of explicit violence, gore and disturbing verbal imagery which may be considered cruel. Parental discretion is advised.**_

**Chapter 13: Warp Asylum**

The siren wailed over the pained groans of Leon and Laura as they covered their ears inside the rising elevator. As if the trembling elevator was not enough to worry about, their flash lights began to flicker and eventually turn off. Both of them rushed to shake and switched them back on. Once their lights were restored, they were shocked to find that their surroundings hadn't been. Before their eyes the surface of the walls, ceiling, and floor of the elevator crumbled and pealed away into the air; disintegrating. The rising elevator now looked to be a dark rusted, iron cage that now exposed the outer chute that it traveled through. Various small vines, some thorned, wrapped themselves along some parts of the cage as well as the outside chute. The siren eventually faded out as the elevator was coming to a shaken halt.

"Laura…" Leon spoke, shaken and grasping for straws of reason. "I think we're having a hallucination."

Laura, equally horrified, muttered, "I seriously fucking doubt it."

As the elevator cage finally reached what they hoped was the fourth floor of the Raccoon Hospital, the cage doors unbolted and released to reveal a surreal landscape of what the hospital had now become. The building looked as though it had fallen apart due to lack of maintenance for years; with vines crawling up from the crumbled floor across the cracked concrete walls. Some areas of the building exposed the rusted steel rods that help hold its foundation together like a rotting skeleton. Leon and Laura ventured out of the elevator and as they came closer to the walls, they saw that the small vines pulsated and looked rubbery and intestinal.

"It's like Rosa said…" Leon said aghast, "the whole world has gone to Hell."

Both of them broke into a cold sweat and ventured up the alien hall; armed at the ready. As they walked, they could see at the end of the hall was a door to the right and immediately to their left was a small corridor that had two doors apart from one another also to the right side of the wall. They made good to peak into it and shine their lights down it despite not hearing the radio static. When they were satisfied no threat was there, they moved on passed the corridor to the door at the end of the hallway. The door read _**"Data Room."**_

"I wonder if that woman is in here?" asked Laura.

"I guess we'll find out soon enough." replied Leon as he pulled the door open by the metal handle.

Upon opening the door, orange rays of evening light from outside poured through the four iron-barred windows from the left into the destroyed room. As they entered, the static came again, and with it, two more of the Green Nurses. Both agents wasted no time going into action as the first Green Nurse charged out of the back room to the immediate right with a fireman's axe and brought it crashing down into the steel desk; missing Leon by a fraction of a hair. Leon countered by firing three rounds into its deformed head and dropping it to the ground. The other nurse flew out from behind a row of empty metal shelves, this one wielding a bloody scalpel. It took one blast from Laura's riot gun to blast the swinging creature in half and put an end to it. Before she could give it an additional shot to make sure of it's demise, the first nurse grabbed Laura by her ankle and yanked her down to the floor. As Laura panicked to get away, Leon drove a kick into the Green Nurse's mouth; breaking its teeth and loosening its grip to allow Laura to escape. Leon quickly grabbed the fire axe and with two powerful whacks into the creature's skull, brought silence back into the room again.

"They're… not so tough." Laura said as the two caught their breaths in the relief of the dying static.

"…Could fight a whole crop of'em." jokingly replied Leon as he decided he felt comfortable holding onto his new weapon.

Once ready to continue, both of them had split up in the room to search it thoroughly. Leon went into the back room where the first nurse had attacked out of. Inside, he found a small space with another steel desk and a rack of large jars filled with dead fetal-sized creatures inside. Leon wondered if these Green Nurses and the things in the jars might have been products of experimentation. Even so, why did everything change around them before arriving to this floor, he thought? Was it really a hallucination? He then thought of the ghosts from before and knew that this time he had really stepped into something cosmic and beyond his reality.

Once he tore himself away from the jar, he found two items of interest on the table. One was a silver key labeled _**"Sickroom Key"**_ and the other was what looked to be a letter written in a hurry on torn notebook paper; the ink scribbled radically across the multiple lines of the paper. Leon held the letter up into the light and strained to make out the mess of panicked writing. It read:

_**[To Clark,**_

_**If you read this, I'm likely to be dead. It is up to you to kill Dr. Cotton and find a way out of this madness. If you find that miserable object, try and figure out a way back and then destroy the damn thing once and for all! If it falls into the wrong hands, there is no telling how much damage it will cause. Those fools at Umbrella had no idea the magnitude of what they could've released using it! I feel this is all my fault you got into all this, for I was the one who recommended your transfer to our site. Now ten out of our original thirteen have been slaughtered by those creatures. And worse, Dr. Cotton may have joined in with those damn zealots who pray to those things! I don't have much time. I'm now unarmed, hungry, and those creatures are banging at the door. I can hear those spirits moaning off in the distance, too. I won't end my life with a blade to my wrists, no! I will make one last effort on those bastards! But God help me if I confront that masked brute again. I fear he may do to me what I watched him do to those other Raccoon City survivors. Something about him and those-]**_

…And it was there that the letter had ended; abruptly with no visible sign of the one who wrote it. Pondering over the text, Leon concluded that Clark, Dr. Cotton, and the one who wrote this were among the lost when the Ground Zero facility disappeared. And this shadow of Raccoon City was were they were taken to. By an object. _Object,_ Leon thought to himself? What device exists on Earth that could create a hole like that. He then pondered the possibility of terrorists gaining control of such a thing or worse, governments. The consequences were too horrible for him to imagine. And now he had this on top of the Receiver of Assumption to worry about. Leon then called Laura over and gave her the letter to read. Once finished, they discussed its contents.

"Was the person who wrote this saying a device _teleported_ them here?" asked Laura.

"In what looks to be a bizarre coincidence," Leon guessed, "the Ground Zero facility must have been transported to this city. It must have been here the whole time before the city reappeared in our world."

"Do you think this object and the Receiver of Assumption are connected?" asked Laura also.

Leon thought about it. "I don't know. Maybe Henry would, if we could find him that is."

"Holy shit, this is bad!" Laura stated. "What are we gonna do about something like that? We've got enough problems as it is hunting for the head Receiver and survivors. But you know we're gonna have to find that thing and get rid of it!"

"That is true…" Leon said, scratching his chin.

"Leon… I'm afraid I've got something to show you, too"

Laura nervously pointed at the bodies of the Green Nurses that lay before them. Leon, not entirely sure what she could be referring to, kneel down to the one closest to him. To his shock, this one had a name tag also. It read, _**"Nurse Ingrid Hunnigan."**_ Leon quickly bolted up and rushed over to the shotgun mutilated corpse of the other. The tag on that one, _**"Nurse Claire Redfield."**_

"What the _hell…?_" He wasn't sure the meaning of all of these, but he knew in his gut that these were definitely the work of someone or something else to toy with him. Leon always had a strong attraction beyond friendship for those three women, but only had the desire to chase one of them. Does something here in this city _know_ that, he wondered? He finally stood up, his eyes still locked onto the creature's name tag.

"Laura," Leon spoke, "we need to find the others fast. I don't think anything good will come from all of us being separated."

Laura silently nodded in agreement. Then both her and Leon exited the Data Room back into the dark hallway that awaited them. Before they continued, Leon tapped Laura and showed her the Sickroom Key that he found. He quietly pointed down the hall wherebranched out around the corner to their now right. She then followed Leon towards that direction. When they came around the corridor, they saw the two doors in question. The first door was locked so they proceeded towards the one at the end. The closer they got, the louder the radio static.

Laura silently cursed, biting her lip and dreading to open the door. Knowing that one of those creatures lurked behind the door, Leon motioned for Laura to kneel down on the ground and position her shotgun to cripple the creature's mobility. From there, Leon then pointed at the axe he held. Laura understood and did as she was told. They silently counted to three, and Leon kicked open the door.

As guessed, there was one Green Nurse looming over a flipped, bloodstained hospital bed in the window-lit wrecked room. As it turned away from the light, it aimed what looked to be an antique pistol at Leon. He quickly stepped out of the way before the nurse could fire off a shot, allowing Laura to blow off both of it's legs. The sudden force caused the creature to drop it's weapon and sent both of them crashing to the ground. As it screeched in pain, Leon finally walked in and ended its monstrous life with a bladed strike to the head. Laura then got up and entered the room. Both of them looked at the creature laying face down. Then at each other. They knew what the other was thinking. _Who's name will be next?_ When they flipped the dead thing on it's back, they got an answer. But one least expected. On this nurse's name tag was Laura's first name, but the last name was heavily scratched out and unreadable. Leon looked at Laura and saw the look of utter terror on her face.

"Why is your last name scratched out?" he asked.

"I… I-I don-"

"There's a reason for it." Leon deadpanned. "This city is reading our minds and making us see the names of people we know on these tags. Your name was different. Does that mean I don't know _you?_"

Laura tried to speak, but couldn't find the words.

"Why was your last name marked out?"

Laura's teeth began to clench and her eyes went wide with fear. The memories were coming back again.

"Answer the damn question!"

"I WAS ADOPTED!"

Laura shrieked, dropping to her knees shaking with her hands over her ears. Leon took a step away and stared startled at the kneeling woman on the floor. As he wondered the significance of what she just said, he also wondered why he had gotten so intense and resorted to anger to interrogate her? Was this place finally getting to him, too? He looked down at her quietly without saying another word.

"When I was 8 years old," Laura began, trying hard not break her voice, "I woke up in St. Jerome's Hospital in Ashfield cut, bruised, and with no idea how I got there. The police came and told me my mom and step dad were dead. They had been murdered and that I was found unconscious in the basement of our house. They kept asking me if I remembered anyone else being in the home besides us. My head hurt so much then that I couldn't remember anything; like there was this blank spot in my mind."

Laura then weakly chuckled and continued. "Doctors said my amnesia was a result of repressed memory through emotional trauma. That's rich, I always thought. Who the hell is dumb enough to force themselves to forget something that important? To be honest, I'm not sure what my original last name is."

"You don't remember?" asked Leon.

Laura shook her head. "I hated that hospital. I hated the police. And after I was adopted by the Breckenridge's, I even hated my own last name. I just wanted to distance myself so much from what happened at that house. I wanted to try to remember at first, I did! But every time I did, the panic always got worse and I'd forget more details. Sometimes I'd go into seizures. When it got to the point that I no longer remembered my last name, my foster parents took all the documents pertaining to my past and burnt everything they had of me. On stuff I'd find myself with my old full name I'd destroy myself. I wanted a new life again. And once my last name was gone, I never once thought about that night I came to the hospital or anything before then. Now it's all coming back again! But just like before, it's pieces all over again. There was someone there, but I don't remember who! I don't remember myself!"

Clutching her ears as tightly as she closed her tear-wet eyes, Laura shrieked, "What the fuck is my name!?"

"I'm sorry I yelled at you." Leon said, and meant. "This place is just making me paranoid."

Leon stretched out his hand but Laura viciously smacked it away from her. "Fuck off!" she shouted. "I don't need anyone's goddamn sympathy!"

Laura bolted out of the Sick Room with Leon on quick pursuit. He called to her to come back, but was ignored. But the moment she reached the end of the short hall to turn towards the elevator's direction, she stumbled backwards with a horrified curse. It was because that both of them had been more invested in each others words and actions that neither of them noticed the increasing volume of static. The throbbing in their temples. The sound of bubbling and crackling. And that dreaded moan.

As Laura scrambled back to her feet, Leon wrapped around the corner in time to see the ghost that guarded the elevator like a burning sentinel. Through the flames that were consuming it, they could see it wore (ironically) dark firefighter gear with bright yellow reflective stripes. The head of the ghost was so burnt that they were unable to determine any distinguishing feature such as age or race, but what was most visible was the "14121" carved into it's cooked forehead.

"Christ," Laura exclaimed as the Victim floated towards them, "does he have to be on fire, too?!"

Leon knew that unless both of them had silver bullets, firing any shots at these things would be a complete waste of ammunition. He had to think of something fast to gain access back to the elevator passed the burning ghost for their current floor offered no defense. Then an idea struck him. The method of its execution would be risky, but he had might as well use it now than wait until it was too late. Leon reached inside his pocket and pulled out the Holy Candle he was given earlier.

"Great thinking, Leon!" Laura said. "Do you have a light?"

"Don't need one."

Leon charged at the flaming victim and leapt forward; thrusting his foot into its stomach and sending it smacking against the nearby wall. As it bounced off the wall with a wail, Leon drove the candle into it's open mouth and snapped off the remainder of it; leaving a chunk lodged in it's jaws. The Victim's reaction was immediately panicked as it clutched it's throat and spiraled towards the floor like an out of control car. The flames did make the situation any better for it as the candle wax melted in it's mouth and drained down it's floor. As it crumbled to the floor in agonizing rasps, Leon and Laura dashed back into the elevator.

"What do we push?!" asked Laura in a panic.

Quickly looking the buttons over, the only one they saw lit was _**"B3"**_. Laura hit it and the elevator screeched to life and dropped to the floors below. Both were relieved to be away from the burning Victim, but neither were thrilled about escaping into the hospital basement of all places. Nothing good ever came of basements, they both thought. Steeling themselves, they waited for the elevator to come to a halt and once it did, they left it to explore the new floor.

Their flashlights aside, it was total darkness down there. The walls were stained and cracked concrete and the floor was a cross hatch of metal where through it's holes exposed a bottomless darkness underneath. They explored carefully the narrow hall and after a couple of turns into more halls they heard footsteps walking a little further ahead. Rushing forward to the end of the hall they found the source to be that of Alyssa Ashcroft who stood at the entrance of a door.

"Alyssa?" asked Laura.

Alyssa turned to them and seemed a combination of horrified and thrilled. "This is it."

"This is what?" asked Leon.

"This is Hell." she said with a terrified calmness. "This city. You read the letter to Clark, right?"

Neither Leon nor Laura responded.

Alyssa continued. "Had it not been for those demons I'd have taken it with me. Do you know what this all means? It means the news story to end all news stories! This means the Dirac Project was real! As if it wasn't incredible enough to explore a ghost city back from nuclear oblivion, I am 100% certain we're in a dimension of total chaos that no one has been to before. And once I've solved this mystery, I'll hold out for the highest on my report! I'll be more famous than any war zone journalist ever! I could even win some kind of Nobel Prize for confirming the existence of the supernatural!"

"A Nobel Prize?!" Laura shouted angrily. "What about the missing people you said you were looking to solve you cold, scheming bitch!"

"Laura, that's enough!" cut Leon, but Alyssa lifted her hand to silence him.

"She's right." Alyssa responded with a smile. "Despite some of the missing survivors being friends of mine, at heart I am a scheming bitch. And a reporter. I would love nothing more than to find them, but little girl if you think I'm not going to profit from any of this when I get out of here you're kidding yourself."

"Enough!" spoke Leon sharply. "You of all people should know that survival should supersede any foolish personal goal. If you're smart you'll stick with us or else you're going to get yourself killed."

After she twisted the handle on the final door and before she entered through it, she turned and said, "No thanks, honey. I've already found the story to die for."

Those where her last coherent words as a lighting quick blow from a foreign axe hooked into her abdomen from inside the room. Both Leon and Laura jumped back as they watched Alyssa flail around in a panicked last attempt at life before being dragged inside by her attacker. Leon and Laura charged to her rescue, but were unable to get the door open.

"Damn, it's locked!" said Leon as he proceeded to hack away at the door's handle.

By the time the handle fell to the ground, the screaming had stopped. Leon kicked the door open and upon entering the dark room discovered a grisly scene. They found Alyssa's lifeless body severed in half across the waist. It looked as though the body had been hacked in half savagely. Her face was just as mutilated with her eyes wide open, forever capturing her last moments like a camera. An axe blow to the mouth was stretched the jaws apart further and with what looked like "16121" cut across her mouth.

"That number…" Laura spoke. "No way one of those nurse monsters did this!"

Leon looked across the room and saw a large figure standing next to a hole in the wall that was bordered with red glowing symbols. The figure in shape was freakishly huge and hunched over, but fully clothed to conceal whatever it looked like underneath. It wore a bloody hood that was stitched together using leathered-out skin from whatever it killed before and dressed in a dark blue uniform and an stained apron. Around it's waist were several tools that looked to belong to a butcher or worse. It also held in it's hand the gore-soaked axe that murdered Alyssa.

"You did this, didn't you?" shouted Leon. "I'll bet money you're the Receiver of Assumption Henry talked about!"

"_Receiver… Laura…"_ the masked figured croaked looking at Laura. It then turned it's attention to Leon. _"Officer K-Kennedy…?!"_

The Receiver of Assumption then went wild and began swinging it's axe in all directions; striking anything near it in a surprising fit. Leon retrieved his hand gun and both him and Laura began firing away at the hooded monster until both ran out of ammunition for their firearms. The bullets oddly phased through the monster as if it were a ghost itself as opposed to the ones they had fought before.

It began to stalk towards them. _"Laura… wisdom…"_

Leon then swung his axe down on the creature's forearm, but the blade only struck the floor. Annoyed, the murderous creature turned it's attention back to Leon, whom for some reason they both noticed had some kind of unknown distaste for. _"Hate… kill… Leon NOW!"_

The creature then wrapped a massive clawed hand around Leon's neck and pressed him against the wall. As Leon struggled against the monster's might, it raised with it's free arm the axe to swing it down at him. But as the axe fell in his direction, both it as well as the arm that held it flaked away into ash as it blew upward. Throughout the commotion, none of them must have heard the sirens blaring in the distance. As the hospital slowly returned back to it's original state, the creature furiously slammed Leon to the floor with a screech before disappearing with the darkness that brought it.


End file.
